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Lot Essay
Since being used on the cover of the first of Jean Lefevre's "book" catalogues, this most unusual rug has become a very well-known image to the collector of carpets.
In his 1977 catalogue, Lefevre compares this rug with two central Anatolian rugs in the Ballard Collection, both formerly in the Jacoby Collection (Ballard, James F: Catalogue of Oriental Rugs in the collection of James F. Ballard, Indianapolis, 1924, pls.79 and 89; Jacoby, Heinrich: Eine Sammlung Orientalischer Teppiche, Berlin, n.d., pls.22 and 23). The first of these carpets falls clearly into the Karapinar group and relates to a number of other examples published by Beattie, May ("Some Rugs of the Konya Region", Oriental Art, XXIII, no.1, 1976; see also the note to the Karapinar rug from the Bernheimer Family Collection of Rugs sold in these Rooms 14 February 1996, lot 130 for more examples from the group). The second also has a number of features associated with the Karapinar group, particularly the spandrels.
The present rug has a number of the features associated with this group. The drawing in the spandrels and the bold palmette pendants of the central medallion would be perfectly consistent with this attribution. The structure however, with its 2-6 shoots of red wefting between each row of knots, is closer to what one would expect from Bergama in Western Anatolia. The number of small details in the field and the design of the guard stripe are all also more fussy than one would expect of a Karapinar or Konya region rug of this period, although the guard stripe also appears on two equally unusual rugs of the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries which are attributed to Central Anatolia (Kirchheim, E. Heinrich et al.: Orient Stars, Stuttgart and London, 1993, no.206, p.328; Christie's London, 17th October 1996, lot 418). One other rug which could relate to the present one was sold at Sotheby's New York, 16 December 1993, lot 98. With a similarly abstract handling of the red design within the blue spandrels, and with anchor pendants at each of the four quarters of the (two) medallions, it also had a weave which was most probably West Anatolian.
While this rug is undoubtedly a village interpretation of an earlier, probably sixteenth century, design, and has many of the quirks associated with such pieces, notably the vagaries in the border design, its success as an overall composition is undoubted. The contrasting colours used for the central medallion, the slightly less powerfully contrasted pendants, and the subtleties of the spandrels give this rug enormous impact.
In his 1977 catalogue, Lefevre compares this rug with two central Anatolian rugs in the Ballard Collection, both formerly in the Jacoby Collection (Ballard, James F: Catalogue of Oriental Rugs in the collection of James F. Ballard, Indianapolis, 1924, pls.79 and 89; Jacoby, Heinrich: Eine Sammlung Orientalischer Teppiche, Berlin, n.d., pls.22 and 23). The first of these carpets falls clearly into the Karapinar group and relates to a number of other examples published by Beattie, May ("Some Rugs of the Konya Region", Oriental Art, XXIII, no.1, 1976; see also the note to the Karapinar rug from the Bernheimer Family Collection of Rugs sold in these Rooms 14 February 1996, lot 130 for more examples from the group). The second also has a number of features associated with the Karapinar group, particularly the spandrels.
The present rug has a number of the features associated with this group. The drawing in the spandrels and the bold palmette pendants of the central medallion would be perfectly consistent with this attribution. The structure however, with its 2-6 shoots of red wefting between each row of knots, is closer to what one would expect from Bergama in Western Anatolia. The number of small details in the field and the design of the guard stripe are all also more fussy than one would expect of a Karapinar or Konya region rug of this period, although the guard stripe also appears on two equally unusual rugs of the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries which are attributed to Central Anatolia (Kirchheim, E. Heinrich et al.: Orient Stars, Stuttgart and London, 1993, no.206, p.328; Christie's London, 17th October 1996, lot 418). One other rug which could relate to the present one was sold at Sotheby's New York, 16 December 1993, lot 98. With a similarly abstract handling of the red design within the blue spandrels, and with anchor pendants at each of the four quarters of the (two) medallions, it also had a weave which was most probably West Anatolian.
While this rug is undoubtedly a village interpretation of an earlier, probably sixteenth century, design, and has many of the quirks associated with such pieces, notably the vagaries in the border design, its success as an overall composition is undoubted. The contrasting colours used for the central medallion, the slightly less powerfully contrasted pendants, and the subtleties of the spandrels give this rug enormous impact.