NORTH WEST PERSIA, SECOND HALF 19TH CENTURY

Details

A SILK HERIZ CARPET
NORTH WEST PERSIA, SECOND HALF 19TH CENTURY
Of Garrus design, localised areas of wear and restoration
12ft.9in. x 8ft.9in. (396cm. x 273cm.)

Provenance

Formerly in a private Australian collection for over 25 years

Special notice

This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends. This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice. The USA prohibits the purchase by US persons of Iranian-origin “works of conventional craftsmanship” such as carpets, textiles, decorative objects, and scientific instruments. The US sanctions apply to US persons regardless of the location of the transaction or the shipping intentions of the US person. For this reason, Christie’s will not accept bids by US persons on this lot. Non-US persons wishing to import this lot into the USA are advised that they will need to apply for an OFAC licence and that this can take many months to be granted.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Behnaz Atighi Moghaddam Head of Sale

batighi@christies.com +44 20 7389 2509

Lot Essay

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

The inscription cartouche centred on each border repeats the same Persian nasta'liq couplet and is flanked by a smaller cartouche that reads Mobarak bad (Congratulations).

The large silk carpets produced in Heriz within the second half of the 19th century, are some of the most spectacular of all Qajar weavings. Mostly woven as special commissions, they would have been seen as one of the most explicit ways of displaying wealth and status. Carpets were frequently given as Nowruz gifts to celebrate the start of the new year and were often inscribed mobarak bad saneh, (May the year ...be blessed), alongside further verses from popular Persian poetry, in celebration of the occasion. The calligraphic verses of the present carpet are elegantly woven and the message of mirth and good fortune are clearly conveyed.

The field design of the present carpet has a very long ancestry, commonly associated with the small weaving centre of Garrus, near Bijar in west Persia, however it was not exclusively woven there. For a fuller discussion on the 'Garrus' deisgn please see lot 189 in the present sale. The design lent itself to the taste of the European interior in the second half of the 19th century, and its popularity meant that many examples are still found today in country houses in Britain and western Europe. Large carpets with this design in silk are far rarer than those in wool. A silk carpet of comparable design but on a red ground was sold as part of the collection of the late Abdi Roubeni, Christie's London, 7 October 2010, lot 47. A wool carpet with a variation of the same design can be found on an impressive Bijar carpet in the present sale, (see lot 189).

More from Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs and Carpets

View All