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Lot Essay
Little is published on these small but often gem-like pieces that were used as portable and durable illustrative material that demonstrated the weaver's capabilities. In some cases as many as five suggested carpet designs could be incorporated within one single wagireh, which would also show the variety of colours available and the quality of wool in which it would be woven (A.U. Dilley, Oriental Rugs and Carpets, a Comprehensive Study, New York/London, 1931, p.102, pl.XXIII). Few examples seem to make their way to the market as most, according to G. Griffin Lewis in his Practical Book of Oriental Rugs, Philadelphia/London, 1911, p.318, were retained by the weavers and used in their own homes (Kurt Erdmann, Seven Hundred Years of Oriental Carpets, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970, p.191). The present wagireh is considered larger than most and may well have been used as a cover after it had served its initial purpose.
In this instance, the exquisite design and vivacity of colour of the present wagireh would most certainly have left the potential commissioner in no doubt of the weaver's capabilities. The design of the present lot had, by the 19th century, become so well associated with the north west that it was given the name 'Garrus', a small weaving centre near to Bijar, although it was not exclusively woven there. One of the best known carpets from that group, inscribed as being the work of Garrus and dated 1794, was formerly in the McMullan Collection, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (M.S. Dimand and Jean Mailey, Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1973, fig.120, p.87). The rich colours and elegant design lent itself to the demands of the European interior particularly in the second half of the 19th century, and as a result a number of examples are found today in country houses in Britain and Western Europe. While we are not suggesting that this wagireh is as early as the McMullan example, it proves that wagirehs were used during the 19th century and that their origins could, as Henry Hildebrand suggests, lie centuries earlier (H. Hildebrand, Der Persische Teppiche und Seine Heimat, Zurich, 1951, p.28). The inclusion of the small animals and primitive motifs in the present example also illustrate the close connection with village and nomadic weavings.
Here the weaver has demonstrated how the intricate lattice could be set upon either a rich chocolate-brown or alternatively a deep lapis blue. In turn this would be enclosed within a forest-green split-palmette border that would in turn be edged by either of the ivory guard stripes or perhaps both. Interestingly, today we can see how those colours would have changed over the course of time with an extremely heavy natural corrosion occurring in the brown and a more subtle abrash appearing in the lapis blue.
Wagirehs appear to have come into wider use with the expansion of areas of the carpet market in Persia that worked closely with the European market, as they could be easily sent abroad to potential clients. The company of PETAG (refer to lot 197 in the present sale) was one such workshop that, according to its director at the time, Heinrich Jacoby, frequently used wagirehs in the manufacture of its large Persian carpets although we sadly have little evidence of this as many were destroyed during the war (Kurt Erdmann, op.cit. p.192-3). Whether they went unacknowledged, were considered as utilitarian cast-offs or just mere fragments at the time, today these small painterly objects are greatly admired by collectors. For other closely related Bijar wagirehs of similar bold design and richness of colour, see Christie's, New York, 13 December, 2000, lot 162, Sotheby's, New York, 2 December, 2003, lot 74 and Rippon Boswell, 28 May 2005, lot 163.
In this instance, the exquisite design and vivacity of colour of the present wagireh would most certainly have left the potential commissioner in no doubt of the weaver's capabilities. The design of the present lot had, by the 19th century, become so well associated with the north west that it was given the name 'Garrus', a small weaving centre near to Bijar, although it was not exclusively woven there. One of the best known carpets from that group, inscribed as being the work of Garrus and dated 1794, was formerly in the McMullan Collection, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (M.S. Dimand and Jean Mailey, Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1973, fig.120, p.87). The rich colours and elegant design lent itself to the demands of the European interior particularly in the second half of the 19th century, and as a result a number of examples are found today in country houses in Britain and Western Europe. While we are not suggesting that this wagireh is as early as the McMullan example, it proves that wagirehs were used during the 19th century and that their origins could, as Henry Hildebrand suggests, lie centuries earlier (H. Hildebrand, Der Persische Teppiche und Seine Heimat, Zurich, 1951, p.28). The inclusion of the small animals and primitive motifs in the present example also illustrate the close connection with village and nomadic weavings.
Here the weaver has demonstrated how the intricate lattice could be set upon either a rich chocolate-brown or alternatively a deep lapis blue. In turn this would be enclosed within a forest-green split-palmette border that would in turn be edged by either of the ivory guard stripes or perhaps both. Interestingly, today we can see how those colours would have changed over the course of time with an extremely heavy natural corrosion occurring in the brown and a more subtle abrash appearing in the lapis blue.
Wagirehs appear to have come into wider use with the expansion of areas of the carpet market in Persia that worked closely with the European market, as they could be easily sent abroad to potential clients. The company of PETAG (refer to lot 197 in the present sale) was one such workshop that, according to its director at the time, Heinrich Jacoby, frequently used wagirehs in the manufacture of its large Persian carpets although we sadly have little evidence of this as many were destroyed during the war (Kurt Erdmann, op.cit. p.192-3). Whether they went unacknowledged, were considered as utilitarian cast-offs or just mere fragments at the time, today these small painterly objects are greatly admired by collectors. For other closely related Bijar wagirehs of similar bold design and richness of colour, see Christie's, New York, 13 December, 2000, lot 162, Sotheby's, New York, 2 December, 2003, lot 74 and Rippon Boswell, 28 May 2005, lot 163.