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Lot Essay
This splendid rug belongs to a small group of carpets from central Anatolia, characterised by their bold angular design, elegant palette and the use of Ottoman floral motifs. Variously attributed to Konya and Karapinar, the earliest of the group date from the late 16th century. They were first identified and discussed by May H. Beattie in her article 'Some Rugs of the Konya Region', Oriental Art, Vol.XXII, no.1, pp.60-76. The border of our rug is very similar to a rug in the Textile Museum, Washington DC, illustrated in May Beattier, ibid, fig.10, p.66. In her article May Beattie proposed the theory that the designs of these unusual rugs derived from Ottoman kilim tent furnishings whose designs of stylised tulips, snaking ribbons, cloud bands and floral designs are very similar. The correlation between the ornamentation of these flatweaves, which lack contouring outlines framing the different design elements, and the present group is undeniable, but the origin of the design is much less clear.
One of the most striking features of the present lot is the unusual golden band in the field overlaid with red arabesque tracery. This band which encircles the central medallion and links to bisected smaller cusped medallions on all four sides, appears to have its origins in the strapwork designs of earlier Persian 16th century silk Kashan rugs such as the example in the Museu Nacional de Machado de Castro, Coimbra, (Jessica Hallett, 'From the Looms of Yazd and Isfahan', in Jon Thompson, Carpets and Textiles in the Iranian World, Oxford, 2010, fig.5, p.100). This unusual design is shared by a very small number of Anatolian weavings; the extraordinary Ushak fragment sold in these Rooms, 4 October 2011, lot 50 as well as a rare group of four brown-ground Central Anatolian Village rugs. These are the Ballard rug that was sold in Sotheby’s New York, 31 January 2014, lot 120, the rug formerly in the Jacoby Collection and now in the City Art Museum St. Louis, a rug published by Eberhart Herrmann in Seltene Orientteppiche, X, Munich, 1988, pl.17, pp. 46-47 and a fragment advertised by Galerie Sailer in Hali 38, March/April 1988, p.23. The present lot has a crispness of drawing and design that appears to be an intermediary stage in the design transmission from the sophisticated and finely drawn details of the Ushak fragment to the more naïve treatment of the design in the brown-ground Village weavings. The treatment of the red tracery and the cusped profile of the central medallion of our rug is very closely related to the Ushak fragment and yet elements of the design such as the paired sickle leaves at each end of the medallion and the angular vine in the field are very similar to the Konya rugs.
Whilst the field design of the present lot is more densely ornamented than many rugs in the group, in both its colouration and drawing it relates to a some of the most beautiful examples such as the Bernheimer rug, sold in these Rooms, 14 February 1996, lot 130 and the exquisite triple medallion carpet published in Jon Thompson, Milestones in the History of Carpets, Milan, 2006, no.26, pp.226-235.
One of the most striking features of the present lot is the unusual golden band in the field overlaid with red arabesque tracery. This band which encircles the central medallion and links to bisected smaller cusped medallions on all four sides, appears to have its origins in the strapwork designs of earlier Persian 16th century silk Kashan rugs such as the example in the Museu Nacional de Machado de Castro, Coimbra, (Jessica Hallett, 'From the Looms of Yazd and Isfahan', in Jon Thompson, Carpets and Textiles in the Iranian World, Oxford, 2010, fig.5, p.100). This unusual design is shared by a very small number of Anatolian weavings; the extraordinary Ushak fragment sold in these Rooms, 4 October 2011, lot 50 as well as a rare group of four brown-ground Central Anatolian Village rugs. These are the Ballard rug that was sold in Sotheby’s New York, 31 January 2014, lot 120, the rug formerly in the Jacoby Collection and now in the City Art Museum St. Louis, a rug published by Eberhart Herrmann in Seltene Orientteppiche, X, Munich, 1988, pl.17, pp. 46-47 and a fragment advertised by Galerie Sailer in Hali 38, March/April 1988, p.23. The present lot has a crispness of drawing and design that appears to be an intermediary stage in the design transmission from the sophisticated and finely drawn details of the Ushak fragment to the more naïve treatment of the design in the brown-ground Village weavings. The treatment of the red tracery and the cusped profile of the central medallion of our rug is very closely related to the Ushak fragment and yet elements of the design such as the paired sickle leaves at each end of the medallion and the angular vine in the field are very similar to the Konya rugs.
Whilst the field design of the present lot is more densely ornamented than many rugs in the group, in both its colouration and drawing it relates to a some of the most beautiful examples such as the Bernheimer rug, sold in these Rooms, 14 February 1996, lot 130 and the exquisite triple medallion carpet published in Jon Thompson, Milestones in the History of Carpets, Milan, 2006, no.26, pp.226-235.