CENTRAL PERSIA, SECOND QUARTER 17TH CENTURY

This beautifully drawn Isfahan relates closely to two small format rugs from the William A. Clark Collection sold at Sotheby's New York, Important Carpets from the William A. Clark Collection, 5 June 2013, lots 10 and 14. Another very similar carpet, formerly in the Convento da Madre de Deus, Lisbon and now in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antigua, is illustrated in Jessica Hallett and Teresa Pacheco Pereira, The Oriental Carpet in Portugal, Lisbon, 2007, fig.21, p.126. The border of the present carpet is especially elegant with its double tendril vine framing the alternating large palmettes and lotus palmettes and terminating in tight curls that reflect the small spiralling rosettes.