IRAN, PROBABLY 18TH CENTURY

A number of similar silk brocade fragments are dated from the late 17th and 18th centuries. One fragment of almost identical design is in the Kunstgewerbe Museum Berlin (inv.no. 1978.223; R. Neumann and G. Murza, Persische Seiden: Die Gewebekunst der Safawiden und ihrer Nachfolger, Leipzig, 1988, pl. 206, pp.216-217). The Berlin fragment is dated to the late 17th or 18th century and has a border naming the weaver "Isma'il". A further similarly designed panel attributed to the 18th century is in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (acc. no. 22-1903). Two other similar fragments in the Victoria & Albert Museum are signed and dated to the 1860s (acc. nos. T.121-1926 and T.84-1929). Whilst of a very similar design to our brocade panel, the drawing on these later panels is stiffer and is later in execution.