PROBABLY BY HAGOP KAPOUDJIAN, CORFU OR PARIS, CIRCA 1920

The knot count measures approximately 8V x 8H knots per cm. sq.

This rug comes from a group of Koum Kapi rugs known as the 'Toussounian' group. Structurally, they all have a thick, supple pile on red wefts, bearing a madder-red kilim with a white stripe. In the past they have been associated with Abraham Toussounian and attributed to the old imperial workshop at Hereke. In her seminal article of 1985 Pamela Bensoussan wrote that 'of all the Koum Kapi weavers [sic], Toussounian was the most prolific' ("The Master Weavers of Istanbul", HALI 26, p.38). She also notes however that he was an 'energetic entrepreneur' and by the 1930s had dominated the London silk carpet market for over a decade. M. Önder Çokay supported this view in a 2017 article for HALI, writing that Toussounian moved to London 'after producing carpets in his studios in Corfu and Istanbul', and that his operations were only brought to a close by the coming of the Second World War ("Istanbul's Masters of Silk", HALI 192, p.107).

Farrow, however, was convinced that the similarities between the 'Toussounian' group and rugs known to have been made by Hagop Kapoudjian were so great that Hagop himself must have made them. Research undertaken between 1992 and 1994 with the help of the Keshishian family, revealed that Toussounian's role was entirely as a buyer and seller of carpets: he was neither a designer nor a weaver, but instead a middleman. He provided the capital to allow Hagop to set up looms in Corfu and Paris and provided the raw material for his rugs. The relationship between the two men was not always a friendly one: Farrow had in his collection an angry letter from Toussounian to Hagop dated to 16 May 1927. In the letter, Toussounian accuses Hagop of a litany of crimes, including not sharing his profits and falsely claiming to have not received payment. An allusion which Toussounian makes to Hagop's 'debt' suggests that the former may have paid to set up Hagop's workshop, leaving him beholden to Toussounian. A pitiless Toussounian closes with a thinly-veiled threat: 'if you don't settle the account in a friendly way, I will find another way to cash my demand, and with interest!'

The cartoon of this rug is based on the 'Sultan's Head design', with a range of fantastic and exotic animals inside a narrow-necked mihrab niche. For a fuller discussion of the history of the 'Sultan's Head' design, see the following lot. For other examples of 'Toussounian' rugs with this design, please see an example sold in these Rooms, 23 April 2013, lot 141. An identical cartoon also appears on an example in the Arkas collection, although that rug has an ivory border (Kumkapi rugs from the Arkas collection, Izmir, 2017, no.11, pp.52-3).