.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This south Caucasian Karabagh carpet is regarded both by Spuhler and May Beattie as an historically important carpet, that bridges the design transition between the traditional Caucasian ‘Dragon’ carpets and the distinctive 19th century ‘Sunburst’ or ‘Eagle’ rugs (May Beattie, The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection of Oriental Rugs, Lugano 1972, pl.XII; Spuhler, op.cit.).
Unable to control his excitement, Friedrich Spuhler wrote in 1998 of this carpet: “I would like to begin here with the totally unscientific remark that this carpet is one of the most beautiful in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection” (Carpets and Textiles: The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, London 1998, no.33, p.140). Nearly thirty years later and this carpet continues to dazzle with its brilliant palette of rich colours and its perfectly balanced design, which are significantly better preserved than the majority of examples from this group.
While attempts to centralise the ‘Dragon’ design were seen on some 18th century Caucasian carpets, the stylised dragons were first complimented, and later replaced with exuberant and non-constrained radiating medallions. These were themselves complimented by bold octagonal contours including pairs of geometric lancet leaves enclosing smaller medallions. Both elements are seen on this carpet and they likely reflect an image of a throne-pedestal, represented more frequently in earlier periods, according to Charles Grant Ellis (Early Caucasian Carpets, 1975,Washington, D.C. pp.16-20, pls.6, 8, 11).
And just as the ‘Dragon’ designs themselves most probably descended from 17th century Safavid ‘Vase’ carpet prototypes, the "motley, assemblage of spider-like, heavily fringed palmettes, some with great, claw-like leaf forms, and egg-shaped floral palmettes open at one end” that appears on medallion carpets like ours, is similarly borrowed form ‘Vase’ carpets (Ellis, op.cit, p.20).
Carpets with this vertical design, comprising lancet leaf forms and radiating medallions alternating along the central axis, while egg-shaped and small palmettes occupy the side vertical axes, form a rather small group. One with an identical but wider field drawing was sold at Bonhams, 23 October 2007, lot 133; another with an identical field but different borders is in The Biltmore Estate (Dennis R. Dodds, Murray L. Eiland, Jr, eds., Oriental Rugs from Atlantic Collections, Philadelphia, 1996, no.85). A fragmentary half carpet with an identical drawing is in the Kestner Museum, Hannover, together with a similar, smaller, blue-ground fragment (5470 and 5774; Hannah Erdmann, Orientteppiche, 1966, Hannover, abbs. 25-26); a similar blue-ground carpet is in The Burrell Collection, Glasgow Museum (9⁄70), but with smaller medallions; another blue ground carpet with three radiating medallions at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (53.156); another piece which was formerly at the Vigo Galleries in London (cf. Ellis, op.cit., p.60).
Multiple similar ‘transition carpets’ were published by Şerare Yetkin in her important, Early Caucasian Carpets in Turkey (London, 1978), but just one of these, has multiple radiating medallions along the central axis like our carpet (vol.1, pl.46, in the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum, Istanbul, 737 (57)). A pair of impressive transitional 18th century carpets of large proportion, which show an ascending repeat design and include the same radiating medallion together with the complete cartouches on either side, are in the Ulu Cami (Great Mosque) at Divriği, Anatolia (see Setare Yetkin, Early Caucasian Carpets in Turkey, Vol.1, pl.25 and pl.26) and another, formerly in the Mosque of Lala Mustafa Paşa at Erzurum, is now in the Museum for Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul (Yetkin, op.cit, pl.27). Different arrangements of the same ornaments are seen in another example in the TIEM (inv.946; Yetkin, Plate 45), a carpet in the Textile Museum in Washington (inv.R.36.2.12; C.G. Ellis, Early Caucasian Rugs, Washington 1975, pl.15) and one in the Wher collection (Yetkin, op.cit. fig.182).
The flower-meander vine border of our carpet, with its diagonal plaques and palmettes, is uncommon on Caucasian rugs, but appears on earlier West Anatolian ‘Lotto’ carpets (see, for example, one in Nuremberg, published in Stefano Ionescu, “Bistrița’s Lottos,” HALI 172, fig.5). A similar example is seen on a late 17th or early 18th century 'Dragon' carpet in The Textile Museum (Ellis, op.cit., pl.12, p.54-55). Another is seen on the large Hannover fragment mentioned above (Erdmann, op.cit., abb.25). The angular S-shaped inner and outer guard stripe on our carpet is found both on 'Lotto' carpets (see Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, BK-1975-145) and early 'Dragon' carpets (for one in the Museum for Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, see Yetkin, op.cit., pl.13).
When observing the progression of these transitional 18th century Caucasian carpets, it becomes clear that, in contrast to most carpet design developments, where the success of the pattern is often lost in a web of complexity and over-elaboration, they are characterised by a marked simplification in their designs and an observed emphasis on individual motifs. This results in a series of powerfully striking carpet designs from this region which became the benchmark for many later 19th century Caucasian weavings (see, for example, a multi-medallion piece published in Ian Bennett's Oriental Rugs vol.1, pl.88).
A transitional single medallion Karabagh rug, formerly in the collection of Dr. Kurt Zander, Berlin, and which was exhibited at the 1910 exhibition, Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst (Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art) exhibition in Munich, was sold in these Rooms, 28 October 2020, lot 150.
Unable to control his excitement, Friedrich Spuhler wrote in 1998 of this carpet: “I would like to begin here with the totally unscientific remark that this carpet is one of the most beautiful in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection” (Carpets and Textiles: The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, London 1998, no.33, p.140). Nearly thirty years later and this carpet continues to dazzle with its brilliant palette of rich colours and its perfectly balanced design, which are significantly better preserved than the majority of examples from this group.
While attempts to centralise the ‘Dragon’ design were seen on some 18th century Caucasian carpets, the stylised dragons were first complimented, and later replaced with exuberant and non-constrained radiating medallions. These were themselves complimented by bold octagonal contours including pairs of geometric lancet leaves enclosing smaller medallions. Both elements are seen on this carpet and they likely reflect an image of a throne-pedestal, represented more frequently in earlier periods, according to Charles Grant Ellis (Early Caucasian Carpets, 1975,Washington, D.C. pp.16-20, pls.6, 8, 11).
And just as the ‘Dragon’ designs themselves most probably descended from 17th century Safavid ‘Vase’ carpet prototypes, the "motley, assemblage of spider-like, heavily fringed palmettes, some with great, claw-like leaf forms, and egg-shaped floral palmettes open at one end” that appears on medallion carpets like ours, is similarly borrowed form ‘Vase’ carpets (Ellis, op.cit, p.20).
Carpets with this vertical design, comprising lancet leaf forms and radiating medallions alternating along the central axis, while egg-shaped and small palmettes occupy the side vertical axes, form a rather small group. One with an identical but wider field drawing was sold at Bonhams, 23 October 2007, lot 133; another with an identical field but different borders is in The Biltmore Estate (Dennis R. Dodds, Murray L. Eiland, Jr, eds., Oriental Rugs from Atlantic Collections, Philadelphia, 1996, no.85). A fragmentary half carpet with an identical drawing is in the Kestner Museum, Hannover, together with a similar, smaller, blue-ground fragment (5470 and 5774; Hannah Erdmann, Orientteppiche, 1966, Hannover, abbs. 25-26); a similar blue-ground carpet is in The Burrell Collection, Glasgow Museum (9⁄70), but with smaller medallions; another blue ground carpet with three radiating medallions at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (53.156); another piece which was formerly at the Vigo Galleries in London (cf. Ellis, op.cit., p.60).
Multiple similar ‘transition carpets’ were published by Şerare Yetkin in her important, Early Caucasian Carpets in Turkey (London, 1978), but just one of these, has multiple radiating medallions along the central axis like our carpet (vol.1, pl.46, in the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum, Istanbul, 737 (57)). A pair of impressive transitional 18th century carpets of large proportion, which show an ascending repeat design and include the same radiating medallion together with the complete cartouches on either side, are in the Ulu Cami (Great Mosque) at Divriği, Anatolia (see Setare Yetkin, Early Caucasian Carpets in Turkey, Vol.1, pl.25 and pl.26) and another, formerly in the Mosque of Lala Mustafa Paşa at Erzurum, is now in the Museum for Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul (Yetkin, op.cit, pl.27). Different arrangements of the same ornaments are seen in another example in the TIEM (inv.946; Yetkin, Plate 45), a carpet in the Textile Museum in Washington (inv.R.36.2.12; C.G. Ellis, Early Caucasian Rugs, Washington 1975, pl.15) and one in the Wher collection (Yetkin, op.cit. fig.182).
The flower-meander vine border of our carpet, with its diagonal plaques and palmettes, is uncommon on Caucasian rugs, but appears on earlier West Anatolian ‘Lotto’ carpets (see, for example, one in Nuremberg, published in Stefano Ionescu, “Bistrița’s Lottos,” HALI 172, fig.5). A similar example is seen on a late 17th or early 18th century 'Dragon' carpet in The Textile Museum (Ellis, op.cit., pl.12, p.54-55). Another is seen on the large Hannover fragment mentioned above (Erdmann, op.cit., abb.25). The angular S-shaped inner and outer guard stripe on our carpet is found both on 'Lotto' carpets (see Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, BK-1975-145) and early 'Dragon' carpets (for one in the Museum for Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, see Yetkin, op.cit., pl.13).
When observing the progression of these transitional 18th century Caucasian carpets, it becomes clear that, in contrast to most carpet design developments, where the success of the pattern is often lost in a web of complexity and over-elaboration, they are characterised by a marked simplification in their designs and an observed emphasis on individual motifs. This results in a series of powerfully striking carpet designs from this region which became the benchmark for many later 19th century Caucasian weavings (see, for example, a multi-medallion piece published in Ian Bennett's Oriental Rugs vol.1, pl.88).
A transitional single medallion Karabagh rug, formerly in the collection of Dr. Kurt Zander, Berlin, and which was exhibited at the 1910 exhibition, Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst (Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art) exhibition in Munich, was sold in these Rooms, 28 October 2020, lot 150.