CENTRAL PERSIA, CIRCA 1890

The design source of this cartoon is loosely based on a Mughal Indian carpet of 1600 woven in Lahore. The idealised garden scene with identifiable pairs of birds (peacocks, cranes, fowl, songbirds etc.) amongst orchards of flowering and fruiting trees and plants, is designed naturalistically and delicately so that one can assume its model originated from the court studio and was most probably designed by Mansur, the emperor's favourite court artist, (Angela Völker, Die orientalischen Knüpfteppiche das MAK, Vienna: Böhlau, 2001: 316–20). While other Mohtasham carpets incorporate birds within their designs, it is unusual to find a carpet with such a wide variety across the entire field. A 'Mohtasham' carpet depicting a similarly wide menagerie of animals sold in these Rooms, 28 October 2021, lot 198.

The term "Mohtasham" is synonymous with the finest carpets made in Kashan in the late 19th century. Hajji Mollah Mohammed Hassan Mohtasham is regarded as one of a very small number of master weavers who successfully re-established Kashan as an important weaving centre in Persia at the end of the 19th century. The carpets produced in his atelier stand out due to their masterful weaving, together with the use of the very finest materials included the finest kurk wool, which here remains in a wonderful state of preservation.