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拍品專文
The knot count is: 20H x 20V per square inch.
The upper cartouche in the field reads: Ghaliche-ye farmayeshi nomreh avval which translates to “Specially commissioned small rug number one”. The lower cartouche in the border reads: Amal karkhane Mohammad Mehdi establishing the workshop of Mohammad Mehdi.
This unusual and unique rug appears to fuse different subjects from two sources, one Quranic and the other mythic. The enthroned figure at top, flanked by an angel, is identified as Suleyman (Biblical Solomon), known for his wisdom, wealth and power, as well as his association with demons and animals. In the lower half of the rug, is Rostam, the hero of the Shahnameh, with curious skirted demonic figures. The large bird at the top of the field could either be the hoopoe bird, Suleyman’s emissary to the Queen of Sheba or the Simurgh bird that raised Zal, father of Rostam, after his family rejected him because of his albinism. Demonic characters figure in both narratives and it may be an attempt to meld the two stories.
It is hard to know if the designer of this rug intentionally conflated the two stories because of similar imagery or if it was purely accidental and simply combines two different cartoons not meant to be together in the same rug.
The upper cartouche in the field reads: Ghaliche-ye farmayeshi nomreh avval which translates to “Specially commissioned small rug number one”. The lower cartouche in the border reads: Amal karkhane Mohammad Mehdi establishing the workshop of Mohammad Mehdi.
This unusual and unique rug appears to fuse different subjects from two sources, one Quranic and the other mythic. The enthroned figure at top, flanked by an angel, is identified as Suleyman (Biblical Solomon), known for his wisdom, wealth and power, as well as his association with demons and animals. In the lower half of the rug, is Rostam, the hero of the Shahnameh, with curious skirted demonic figures. The large bird at the top of the field could either be the hoopoe bird, Suleyman’s emissary to the Queen of Sheba or the Simurgh bird that raised Zal, father of Rostam, after his family rejected him because of his albinism. Demonic characters figure in both narratives and it may be an attempt to meld the two stories.
It is hard to know if the designer of this rug intentionally conflated the two stories because of similar imagery or if it was purely accidental and simply combines two different cartoons not meant to be together in the same rug.