CENTRAL PERSIA, EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Red ground palmette and scrolling tendril carpets were imported into Europe in large quantites in the seventeenth century. Since that period they have been among the most popular carpets for use as decoration. The vast majority are now unfortunately in poor condition. The present example demonstrates why these carpets were indeed so popular; it has a brightness of tone and a vivacity of colour which is very frequently absent. The colours have survived partly due to the lack of wear which leaves the wool long enough to retain the depth of colour, and partly from the absence of fading through bright sunlight. The design was originally developed on some of the finest carpets made in the Safavid court, notably the "Emperor's Carpets" of the mid-sixteenth century (Sarre, Friedrich and Trenkwald, Herrman: Altorientalische Teppiche, Vienna and Leipzig, 1926, vol.1, pls.6-8). A group of carpets followed woven on silk warps, sometimes including cotton or metal-thread details, of which an end fragment from the Burns Collection is offered as lot 257 in the sale following this; an impressive complete silk warped example was sold in these Rooms 17 October 1996, lot 404. The quality of the drawing and colours of this rug enable it to be placed at the beginning of the development of the wool warped versions which followed the success of the earlier examples.