SOUTH EAST PERSIA, CIRCA 1880

Carpet weaving in Kirman and the town of Ravar had been established as a tradition long before the end of the 19th century. When Sir Percy Sykes (then Major Sykes), established the first British Consulate in Kirman in 1895, he wrote that there were about 1,000 carpet weaving looms in Kirman, 100 in Ravar and about 30 in the surrounding villages. The earliest post-Safavid looms in the district were erected in Ravar, a hundred miles north east of Kerman; dated carpets from there go back to 1866 AD. With the expansion of the carpet industry in Persia towards the end of the 19th century, primarily as a result of demand from Europe, carpet importing firms from Britain and America established offices in Kirman. The export of carpets from Kirman was continuous and increased with 90 per cent of production going to the United States by the 1930s. For a more detailed survey see Edwards, A. Cecil: The Persian Carpet, Great Britain, 1953, pp.197-280.

This massive carpet shows the scale to which weaving in this area had developed. Following Cecil Edwards' information, it was probably one of the group woven in Ravar; he illustrates one of almost identical design which he attributes to this town (op.cit, pl.200, p.216). This group was very popular in England for furnishing country houses at the end of the 19th century. Three examples were collected by Sir Harold Wernher, Bt., G.C.V.O, for Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire, and another example was sold by Christies at Elveden Hall, Thetford, Norfolk, 22 May 1984, lot 2158.