Lot Essay
The design of imbricated stars can also be seen on contemporary French carpets, such as a Directory-period Savonnerie carpet which sold Christie’s Paris, 14 April 2015, lot 250. Ultimately such designs may also have taken inspiration from the geometry of Mamluk carpets, which were similarly decorated: that French weavers looked to 15th century Cairo for inspiration is demonstrated by an unusual Aubusson carpet of Mamluk design sold Sotheby’s Paris, 30 September 2011, lot 115. Other Aubusson carpets with similar stellate motifs on a lightly-patterned ground include an example formerly owned by Hubert Givenchy, sold Christie’s Paris, 15 June 2022, lot 106 and another from the collection of Ann and Gordon Getty, which sold Christie’s New York, 22 October 2022, lot 423.
A comparable Axminster carpet but later in date and marginally smaller in scale, was commissioned for the White Drawing Room in Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire, that was lavishly decorated by Flitcroft in the 18th-century, with an Adam-Style ceiling. The carpet sold in these Rooms, 30 April 2014, lot 133. A near-pair to the current carpet is in a collection in New York. A similar border, with alternating cartouches and stars, is found on a carpet in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia (Mildred B. Lanier, English and Oriental Carpets at Williamsburg, Williamsburg, 1975, no.9, pp.26-7).
A comparable Axminster carpet but later in date and marginally smaller in scale, was commissioned for the White Drawing Room in Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire, that was lavishly decorated by Flitcroft in the 18th-century, with an Adam-Style ceiling. The carpet sold in these Rooms, 30 April 2014, lot 133. A near-pair to the current carpet is in a collection in New York. A similar border, with alternating cartouches and stars, is found on a carpet in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia (Mildred B. Lanier, English and Oriental Carpets at Williamsburg, Williamsburg, 1975, no.9, pp.26-7).