Lot Essay
Friedrich Spuhler divided the design groups found in Polonaise carpets into thirteen different systems of which the present rug is an example of System VIIIb (Spuhler, F.: 'Entwurfspraktiken safawidischer Hofmanufacturen am Beispiel der sog. Polenteppiche', HALI, vol.1, no.3, pp.244-6, this being a summary of his earlier doctoral thesis). It is unusual in having a consciously acentric design, one in which all the design elements direct the eye to the centre which contains nothing. The border design is also one that is occasionally found used covering the entire field in Polonaise carpets (Dimand, M.S. and Mailey, J.: Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1973, no.22, p.104 and fig.89) which represents system XIIIc in Spuhler's system. The Metropolitan Museum rug also has identical guard stripes to the present rug.