CIRCA 1800

Two earlier fragmentary Anatolian carpets are closely related to the present example. The first, catalogued as an 'Archaic Arrowhead Blossom Carpet' is discussed by Christopher Alexander in Foreshadowing of 21st Century Art. The Color and Geometry of Very Early Turkish Carpets, New York and Oxford, 1993, p.191 and the second is a Turkish pile rug illustrated by Friedrich Sphuler, Oriental Carpets in the Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin, Munich, p.203, pl.60. Both examples have closely related, archaic designs that play with positive and negative space.

This visual play was a device used by draftsmen in the sixteenth century court nakkashhane or Imperial scriptorium and can clearly be seen in the designs of Iznik tiles (Alexander, op cit., p.191). This influence can also be seen in textiles of the same period that play with the illusion of differing planes of colour through design. A 16th century short-sleeved kaftan in the Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul, whose design originates from earlier damasks, has an equally optically challenging effect, (Nurhan Atasoy et al., Ipek, The Crescent & the Rose, Imperial Ottoman Silks and Velvets, Istanbul, 2001, p.65, pl.21.)

A very close comparable to the present lot, but with a different central medallion, sold in these Rooms, 9 October, 2006, lot 88.