CENTRAL OR EAST ANATOLIA, LATE 16TH / EARLY 17TH CENTURY

The field design of the present lot stems from the celebrated group of 16th century 'Large-pattern Holbein' carpets of central Anatolia. The 2:1:2 design formation on the present rug is characterised by the large central octagon set within a square medallion, here filled with small geometric and floral motifs. This is set between two broad bands consisting of two smaller paired octagons with an ornamental knotted profile, each octagon is squared within open bracket corners. The plain camel field, woven here with real camel hair, is absent of any decorative motifs, which accentuates the intricate ornamentation within the octagons still further.

At each corner of the central square medallion there is a zoomorphic motif formed of three angular branches which terminate with a triangular head. This archaic motif appears in the border of a carpet fragment discovered in Egypt by Carl Johan Lamm in 1937, which he attributed to Asia Minor, second half 15th century, and which now is in the Röhss Museum, Gothenburg (n.inv. 322-1935) (J. Eskenazi, op.cit., p.37). The red and white minor spotted motifs arranged arbitrarily within the central octagon, as well as the bird-like red and white forms within each of the smaller octagons, are similar to a carpet originally from the Sivrihisar Mosque, now in the Vakiflar Museum, Istanbul, and another from the Sheikh Baba Yusuf mosque in Sivrihisar, (HALI, Vol 6, No 2, Anatolian Civilisations II, pp.157-8, fig. 6 and 7). On both of those examples the central decoration is more carefully arranged and more precisely drawn than on the present rug however, it is possible that the small red segments which were once conceived as part of the ground colour, over which was laid the green knotted radiating petals, particularly clear on fig.7, have, over time, become independently dispersed forms as seen on the present rug.

The central field is enclosed within a narrow red border of small polychrome quartered octagons each centred with a cruciform motif containing an infinite knot. This rare border variant with the cruciform motif appears on an early Anatolian village rug fragment discovered in Fostat as well as on a carpet from the Alaeddin mosque in Konya (J. Eskenazi, op.cit, p.38).

The precise dating of this rug has proved difficult. Both Michael Franses and Ian Bennett attributed it to 16th/17th century central Anatolia, which was echoed in the Christie's 1989 catalogue. George Butterweck considered it to have been woven more specifically in Bergama, West Anatolia, circa 1700, (G. Butterweck, op.cit.1983), while Hannah Erdmann considered it to have been even later still, suggesting that it was woven in the 19th century, a theory which seems improbable. While opinion varies on this, what is widely agreed upon, is that this rug is a rare and intriguing example of the 'Large-Pattern Holbein' tradition which survives in exemplary condition. The popularity of the pattern throughout the Islamic world is exemplified by its continued use into the late 19th century in the familiar Anatolian village rug designs of Bergama (see lot 246 in the present sale).