SOUTHERN KURDISTAN, CIRCA 1800

In the second half of the eighteenth century the court style in Persia moved towards overall repeating designs without the structure seen on earlier examples. A portrait of Nader Shah (r.1739-49) in the Victoria and Albert Museum, (Acc No. IM.20-1919) shows him seated on a carpet whose overall design is superimposed by a small central cusped medallion similar to that in the present lot. While that particular carpet is likely to be of Indian origin, the style rapidly caught on.

The design of this carpet, known as the Afshan pattern, meaning 'scattered flowers', proved extremely popular with weavers in North West Persia and the South Caucasus, and derived directly from a group of late 17th and early 18th century Caucasian carpets. A number of different variants were produced in various centers, as discussed by Murray L. Eiland Jr., 'Afshan - A Story of Design Development', HALI, Issue 104, pp.59-65. A Karabagh kelleh that displays a similar ivory lozenge 'moon' medallion with spandrels but on an indigo 'Herati' ground, was in the James D. Burns Collection, sold in these Rooms, 18 October 2001, lot 249, while a South Kurdish kelleh, of a similar fine quality to our carpet, with a medallion but no spandrels on a 'Mina Khani' indigo ground, is published in J. Burns, Antique Rugs of Kurdistan, London 2002, pp.36-37, pl.1.