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Lot Essay
At the 1999 International Conference on Oriental Carpets Christine Klose presented an analysis of various vase carpet fragments with the same design as the present fragment. She showed how they had all come from a pair of large carpets. The present fragment joins directly below the fragment in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, inv.no.10556 (L'Islam dans les collections nationales, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1977, no.632, p.263). Two other sections of the same carpet are published, one in the Hermitage Museum, St.Petersburg (Loukonine, Vladimir and Ivanov, Anatol: L'Art Persan, Bournemouth, 1995, no.204, pp.198-9), the other comprising three small fragments from the border including the lower left hand corner, in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow (Beattie, May H.: Carpets of Central Persia, exhibition catalogue, Sheffield and Birmingham, 1976, no.39, pp.67-68).
Fragments attributed to the virtually identical pair to this carpet are known in six institutions: the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Musée Historique des Tissues, Lyons, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin, the Kunstindutriemuseet, Copenhagen, and the Louvre, Paris. In our knowledge of the carpets the present fragment is crucial; it is the only fragment which we can be sure gives the resolution in the centre of the carpet. This is demonstrated by the main border design on the left of the fragment which shows the carpet to have had a specific design in the centre similar to the corner resolution. This feature, of a specific break in the centre of the otherwise flowing border design, is extremely unusual if not unique in Safavid carpet design. This also clearly demonstrates its original width of almost exactly six metres (the present fragment has probably lost about 4cm. where it has been cut and re-joined). This also adds weight to the theory that all the fragments come from one carpet rather than two: sixteen metres long would give the normal Safavid carpet proportions if the width was 6m. Bearing that in mind, it is interesting to note also that the massive Kevorkian "durbar" carpet woven in India (Walker, op.cit., no.33, figs.119 and 120) which measures 16 x 3.25m takes as its design the Kirman vase motif. Maybe there was a Kirman original from which the idea was taken!
Whether from one or two carpets, what is certain is that this is one of the most impressive of all carpets to have survived from Safavid Kirman. The scale of the flowers is massive, the drawing shows great variety and liveliness within the fixed confines of the design, and the colours are vibrant and hugely varied. It is a great testament to the magnificence of Safavid weaving.
We are grateful to Christine Klose for her input for this catalogue entry.
Fragments attributed to the virtually identical pair to this carpet are known in six institutions: the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Musée Historique des Tissues, Lyons, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin, the Kunstindutriemuseet, Copenhagen, and the Louvre, Paris. In our knowledge of the carpets the present fragment is crucial; it is the only fragment which we can be sure gives the resolution in the centre of the carpet. This is demonstrated by the main border design on the left of the fragment which shows the carpet to have had a specific design in the centre similar to the corner resolution. This feature, of a specific break in the centre of the otherwise flowing border design, is extremely unusual if not unique in Safavid carpet design. This also clearly demonstrates its original width of almost exactly six metres (the present fragment has probably lost about 4cm. where it has been cut and re-joined). This also adds weight to the theory that all the fragments come from one carpet rather than two: sixteen metres long would give the normal Safavid carpet proportions if the width was 6m. Bearing that in mind, it is interesting to note also that the massive Kevorkian "durbar" carpet woven in India (Walker, op.cit., no.33, figs.119 and 120) which measures 16 x 3.25m takes as its design the Kirman vase motif. Maybe there was a Kirman original from which the idea was taken!
Whether from one or two carpets, what is certain is that this is one of the most impressive of all carpets to have survived from Safavid Kirman. The scale of the flowers is massive, the drawing shows great variety and liveliness within the fixed confines of the design, and the colours are vibrant and hugely varied. It is a great testament to the magnificence of Safavid weaving.
We are grateful to Christine Klose for her input for this catalogue entry.