SOUTH CENTRAL INDIA, 18TH CENTURY

The present rug forms part of an intriguing group of rugs only recently discovered in Kyoto, Japan, that are defined by distinct colouring, technique and design. Woven on a cotton foundation with 9-plied strands and blue wefts, it is widely considered that they were woven in the Deccan in India. In her extensive thesis on the subject, Yumiko Kamada discusses both the reasons as to where and why these rugs were woven but also the way in which they appear in such high numbers in Japan, (Y. Kamada, Flowers on Floats: The Production, Circulation, and Reception of Early Modern Indian Carpets, New York University, 2011).

Kamada suggests that, in contrast to the finer and more expensive weavings of Persia, these smaller, and less costly examples proved attractive to the merchant classes and began to be traded by the East India Companies as a commercial commodity. Through the international commercial network, Deccani carpets were widely distributed particularly to Japan, Portugal, England and the Netherlands and appeared in the households adding exoticism and opulence to interiors, (Kamada, op.cit., pp.403-5). Dutch paintings of the late 17th and early 18th centuries depicted such pieces in the households of wealthy patrons (D. Walker, Flowers Underfoot, New York, 1997, pp. 136-146). However, in Japan they were considered even more precious and were honoured in the specific adornment of the ceremonial floats of the annual Kyoto Gion Festival. The festival is one of Japan's most important annual events which has been devotedly celebrated for over a millennium (Walker, op.cit, figs. 135-139).

The present carpet is accompanied with a wooden storage box bearing the inscription "Wanli Rug" on the face of the lid. Interestingly this relates closely to a similar example of almost identical Safavid Isfahan design, sold in these Rooms, 16 April 2007, lot 49. That carpet had the same inscription on the outside of the lid of its box and an additional later 20th century inscription on the inside of the lid that stated that it was one of ten rugs brought back by Kobayakawa Takakage after the Korean Invasion. Takakage (1533-1597) was one of the generals in the Korean Invasion at the Battle of Bunroku (1592) during the Wanli period in both Korea and China. Neither that carpet, or the present lot is 16th century however, and as with many stories that have travelled over time, it would appear that this particular story is an embellishment of the truth.

Further examples from this group were sold in these Rooms; 14 October 1999, lot 147; 24 November 2009, lot 340 and more recently in 27 April 2023, lots 204 and 205.