WEST ANATOLIA, 17TH CENTURY

Details

A SMYRNA CARPET FRAGMENT
WEST ANATOLIA, 17TH CENTURY
Comprising a section of the border, guard stripes, and part of the field, uneven wear, mounted
2ft.2in. x 2ft.7in. (66cm. x 79cm.)

Provenance

Carpets from the Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Jon Thompson, Sotheby's New York, 16 December 1993, lot 74;
Anon. sale, Sotheby's London, 9 October 1996, lot 39

Special notice

This lot is offered without reserve. This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends. 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.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Behnaz Atighi Moghaddam Head of Sale

batighi@christies.com +44 20 7389 2509

Lot Essay

The group of 'Smyrna' rugs were named after the contemporary European name for Izmir, the port where they were loaded onto ships destined for the European market. Werner Grote-Halsenbalg notes that they were woven under the direct supervision of Dutch merchants (quoted by Alberto Boralevi, Geometrie d’Oriente: Stefano Bardini e il Tappeto Antico, Livorno, 1999, no.27, p.86). Despite this foreign influence, they still drew heavily on Ottoman court designs: the section of the border which survives here is typical of the border designs found on couple-columned ‘Transylvanian’ prayer rugs of the same period (Spuhler, König, and Volkmann, Alte Orientteppische, Munich, 1978, no.20, p.66).

This fragment is taken from the bottom-left hand corner of the original carpet. The original decoration would have consisted of two or possibly three ascending columns of alternate-facing large artichoke-shaped palmettes, without a central medallion. A very similar complete carpet, with a near-identical main border, was sold in these Rooms as part of The Davide Halevim collection, 14 February 2001, lot 52. The touches of green in this fragment though bear comparison with a slightly older – and also fragmentary - example collected by Stefano Bardini who, Boralevi suggests, seems to have ‘had a particular feeling for Smyrna carpets’ (Alberto Boralevi, op cit., no.28, p.88).

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