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Lot Essay
The approx. knot count is 7.5H x 8.5V per sq. cm.
As noted in the note under the preceding lot, the selection of silk carpets for the maharaja included a very high number of Kashan weavings with unusual and very special field colours. The present carpet uses a turquoise-green field that is extremely rare, placing the floral sprays on it such that they appear to float above the most beautifully coloured water. This effect of the design floating above the ground is one that is dependant on a very subtle shading of the ground colour, so that it is visibly continuous underneath the design, rather than, as in a drawing, with the areas between the motifs being coloured in panels. It is a feature that is found on a number of the best Heriz carpets, but which in most Kashan carpets, due to the uniformity of dyeing, is absent. The present carpet shows very well that the weavers could achieve this in Kashan silk weavings as well of better than anywhere else in Persia.
As noted in the note under the preceding lot, the selection of silk carpets for the maharaja included a very high number of Kashan weavings with unusual and very special field colours. The present carpet uses a turquoise-green field that is extremely rare, placing the floral sprays on it such that they appear to float above the most beautifully coloured water. This effect of the design floating above the ground is one that is dependant on a very subtle shading of the ground colour, so that it is visibly continuous underneath the design, rather than, as in a drawing, with the areas between the motifs being coloured in panels. It is a feature that is found on a number of the best Heriz carpets, but which in most Kashan carpets, due to the uniformity of dyeing, is absent. The present carpet shows very well that the weavers could achieve this in Kashan silk weavings as well of better than anywhere else in Persia.