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Lot Essay
The inscription cartouches flanking the central medallion contain a Persian couplet followed by the commissioning inscription which translates:
"Commissioned by Qalichi Tabrizi in one thousand and three hundred of hijra, the year 13[00]".
The verbal tradition within the German royal family though which this carpet has descended is that it was received as a gift from Nasir al-Din Shah. The date on the carpet, about which there can be no doubt as it is spelled out in letters as well as being in figures, means that it could either have been given as the result of an encounter in the Shah's second visit to Europe in 1878, or brought with him as an intended present on his third and last visit in 1889. The absence of any mention of a royal commission in the inscriptions on it makes the second of these two options the more probable.
"Commissioned by Qalichi Tabrizi in one thousand and three hundred of hijra, the year 13[00]".
The verbal tradition within the German royal family though which this carpet has descended is that it was received as a gift from Nasir al-Din Shah. The date on the carpet, about which there can be no doubt as it is spelled out in letters as well as being in figures, means that it could either have been given as the result of an encounter in the Shah's second visit to Europe in 1878, or brought with him as an intended present on his third and last visit in 1889. The absence of any mention of a royal commission in the inscriptions on it makes the second of these two options the more probable.