MID-19TH CENTURY

The design of this runner can be compared to that of another runner sold in these Rooms 14 October 1999, lot 116. The design of the present runner is however purer and the piece appears to be considerably older in date. The design originates from the flatwoven summer carpets (jajim) which were very popular in Persia in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They are often seen used as floor coverings in portraits of dignitaries of the time, such as Prince Ardashir Mirza by Abu'l-Hasan Ghaffari naqash bashi, dated 1852-3 AD, sold in these Rooms 11 October 1988, lot 24 and now in the Hashem Khosrovani Qajar Collection (Diba, Layla S.: Royal Persian Paintings exhibition catalogue, New York, 1988, no.79, p.250). Their use dates back at least to the laste Safavid period.