Lot Essay
A fragmentary carpet with identical field was in the Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna, but was destroyed in the war (Sarre, F. and Trenkwald, H.: Alt-Orientalische Teppiche, Vienna and Leipzig, 1926, vol.1, pl.43). Both rugs have borders which are more Caucasian in treatment than Persian.
The field design derives originally from the tree carpets woven in South East Persia in the 'vase' technique. As with many other examples from this group, later versions were woven in North West Persia. The immediate North West Persian prototype of the present rug can be seen in one of the rugs from the Berlin Museum which was lost in 1945 (Erdmann, K.: Seven Hundred Years of Oriental Carpets, London, 1970, fig 176, p.140). The drawing on the Berlin piece was more curvilinear with slightly less stylisation of the design. It also had a red ground.
From its border design the present rug might have been though to have been woven in the Caucasus. The structure however, with both cotton warps and wefts, confirms a North West Persian origin. The structure is indeed similar to that of the garden carpets from the same region which include the design of the present carpet in their borders. The group is discussed by Christine Klose: 'Betrachtungen zu Nordwestpersischen Gartenteppichen des 18. Jahrhunderts', HALI, vol.1, no.2, 1978, pp.112-121, and by Kurt Erdmann (op. cit., pp.66-70).
The field design derives originally from the tree carpets woven in South East Persia in the 'vase' technique. As with many other examples from this group, later versions were woven in North West Persia. The immediate North West Persian prototype of the present rug can be seen in one of the rugs from the Berlin Museum which was lost in 1945 (Erdmann, K.: Seven Hundred Years of Oriental Carpets, London, 1970, fig 176, p.140). The drawing on the Berlin piece was more curvilinear with slightly less stylisation of the design. It also had a red ground.
From its border design the present rug might have been though to have been woven in the Caucasus. The structure however, with both cotton warps and wefts, confirms a North West Persian origin. The structure is indeed similar to that of the garden carpets from the same region which include the design of the present carpet in their borders. The group is discussed by Christine Klose: 'Betrachtungen zu Nordwestpersischen Gartenteppichen des 18. Jahrhunderts', HALI, vol.1, no.2, 1978, pp.112-121, and by Kurt Erdmann (op. cit., pp.66-70).