NORTH EAST PERSIA, FIRST HALF 19TH CENTURY

Details

A LARGE KHORASAN CARPET
NORTH EAST PERSIA, FIRST HALF 19TH CENTURY
Of Harshang design, uneven wear, scattered reweaves and associated repiling
23ft.7in. x 12ft.11in. (719cm. x 394cm.)

Special notice

Specifed lots (sold and unsold) marked with a filled square ( ¦ ) not collected from Christie’s, 8 King Street, London SW1Y 6QT by 5.00 pm on the day of the sale will, at our option, be removed to Crown Fine Art (details below). Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent ofsite. If the lot is transferred to Crown Fine Art, it will be available for collection from 12.00 pm on the second business day following the sale. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Crown Fine Art. All collections from Crown Fine Art will be by prebooked appointment only. This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice. The USA prohibits the purchase by US persons of Iranian-origin “works of conventional craftsmanship” such as carpets, textiles, decorative objects, and scientific instruments. The US sanctions apply to US persons regardless of the location of the transaction or the shipping intentions of the US person. For this reason, Christie’s will not accept bids by US persons on this lot. Non-US persons wishing to import this lot into the USA are advised that they will need to apply for an OFAC licence and that this can take many months to be granted.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Behnaz Atighi Moghaddam Head of Sale

batighi@christies.com +44 20 7389 2509

Lot Essay

This Khorasan carpet is part of a small group of which a number include nasta'liq couplets woven into the Harshang pattern field. One was published by Arthur Upham Pope (A Survey of Persian Art, Oxford, 1938, pl.1272A). A second example was in The Bernheimer Family Collection of Carpets, sold in these Rooms 14 February 1996, lot 60 and a third sold in these Rooms, 6 April 2006, lot 168. The example in Pope appears to be dated 1281/1864-5, while the Bernheimer example was dated 1218/1813-14. The latter date seems the more probable for the group. Unfortunately the calligraphic cartouches have been removed on the present carpet which quite possibly would have included the date of when it was woven, although we can safely assume it was during the early decades of the 19th century.

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