NORTH EAST PERSIA, 17TH CENTURY

There is just enough left of the field of this carpet to show that it comprised a large-scale lattice containing single bold flowers in each compartment on an ivory ground. The design in its origin is Mughal Indian, deriving from the red ground Mughal lattice carpets which date from the second quarter of the 17th century, such as that sold in these Rooms 24 April 1997, lot 425. From a very small number of surviving examples it is known that this design achieved a certain amount of popularity in Khorassan in the late 17th century. Some of the examples were woven with a plain red field like the Indian originals (The Bernheimer Family Collection of Carpets, Christie's auction catalogue, 14 February 1996, lot 149; Spuhler, Friedrich: Oriental Carpets in the Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin, London, 1987, no.126, pp.109-110, ill.p.266; and the Satterwhite octagonal carpet published in Willborg, J.P.: 1980-1990, "Ten Years" Jubilee Exhibition, Stockholm, 1990, no.1). In others the weavers could not resist having multicoloured field compartments (Bernheimer Coillection, lot 180; Pope, A.U.: A Survey of Persian Art, Oxford, 1938, pl.1240). The border of this carpet is identical in composition to that of the Bernheimer red ground carpet mentioned above.

In terms of accuracy of drawing and fineness of weave, the carpet from which this fragment comes was greatly superior to the others of this design. For a seventeenth century Khorassan weaving it is very fine indeed. It is probable that this was amongst the first of the copies of Mughal originals and can therefore be dated to the middle of the seventeenth century. The white ground may also be a copy of the Mughal; there is a white ground Mughal lattice fragment in a private collection in London.