ATTRIBUTABLE TO HAGOP KAPOUDJIAN, ISTANBUL, TURKEY, CIRCA 1895

The knot count measures approximately 9V x 10H knots per cm. sq.

This carpet is one of the earliest Turkish rugs in the Farrow collection. It was displayed at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900, and was likely woven in the years immediately preceding it. The Exposition was intended as a showcase of the achievements of the last hundred years and the possibilities which the next hundred would bring. Though it is most famous today as the event for which the Eiffel Tower was built, Paris also hosted fifty-six national delegations who built their own pavilions to represent their country and its achievements. Louis Rousselet described the pavilion of the Ottoman Empire: built on the Seine, and inspired by the Ottoman mosques of Istanbul and (somewhat incongruously) the Mamluk Mosque of Qaitbay. Rousselet was particularly impressed by the rugs in the pavilion: on its floors and walls were ‘spread out in profusion splendid carpets from the imperial manufacture of Hereke’, including a copy of a rug presented to Kaiser Wilhelm I on his visit to Turkey in 1898, which Rousselet described as a ‘piece of incomparable beauty and enormous value’ (Louis Rousselet, L’exposition Universelle de 1900, Paris, 1901).

The design of our rug is taken directly from that of the Safavid, Lobanov-Rostovsky medallion rug, now in the Hermitage Museum. St Petersburg (see John Mills, 'The Salting Carpets', Oriental Carpet and Textile Studies Vol. V, Part 2). Though the rug had originally been in Istanbul, it went to Russia in 1878 at the time of the Russo-Turkish war. The rug was subsequently published as a large plate in Friedrich Sarre's ‘Vienna Book', Orientalische Teppiche, Vienna, 1892-96. Both rugs have the same verses from Sa’di in the border cartouches, and a matching arrangement of animals in the field. The main difference in design is a softening of the colour palette, probably to suit the tastes of potential buyers at the World’s Fair.

The Lobanov-Rostovsky rug belongs to the ‘Salting’ group, named after an example in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The group all have a poetic text around a field populated by paired animals, enclosing a bold circular medallion. Like the ‘Topkapi’ prayer rugs mentioned in the note for Lot 170, for years the attribution of these rugs has been a matter of discussion for scholars. In her article on Koum Kapi, Bensoussan rehearsed the argument of May Beattie, that they were woven in Hereke in the nineteenth century. It is now believed that the rugs are much older, dating from the mid sixteenth century. It is also now believed that they are Safavid rather than Ottoman. All are woven with a wool pile but, like the rugs of Koum Kapi, the field is decorated with metal thread highlights. Further examples include the Von Pannwitz Carpet in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, an example in the Metropolitan Museum, and the Marquand Rug in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The rug was purchased by Julius Orendi during the Exposition, before he went on to visit Hereke and Istanbul in 1902. In spite of his familiarity with the work of early 20th century Armenian weavers of Istanbul, in his book he described it as sixteenth century in date. By the time it was published, he had already sold it to one Frau Toni Schwarz in Vienna. The invoice, dated 14 January 1916, is sold along with the rug and a letter of thanks from Julius Orendi confirming that he had acquired it at the Exposition Universelle. It remained in an Austrian collection, and though it was to be offered at Rippon Boswell, 13 March 1982, lot 48 it was withdrawn by the owners before the sale.

The rug is unusual on many accounts: it has a very thick pile and it is also older than most Koum Kapi carpets, certainly predating the year 1900 and thus part of the first great flourishes of the Koum Kapi workshop on the eve of the First World War. Rippon Boswell attributed the weaving to Hagop, a suggestion which George Farrow supported based on the quality of the rug, the loyal reproduction of a classical design, and the thick pile. A rug of similar design, though smaller in size, is in the Arkas collection which is also attributed to the work of Hagop Kapoudjian (Kumkapi rugs from the Arkas Collection, exhibition catalogue, Izmir, 2017, p.32, no.1). Cartoons signed by Hagop Kapoudjian depicting animals around a lobed central medallion, much like that on this rug, are offered in the present sale, see lot 180.