PROBABLY HYDERABAD OR WARANGEL, THE DECCAN, SOUTH INDIA, 18TH CENTURY

Until around 1630 Indian carpet designs were based upon earlier Persian models but after this point artists were encouraged to develop a greater ‘Indian’ aesthetic. Many of their designs contained characteristic rich ruby-red fields with delicate lozenge lattices enclosing botanical flowers such as the chrysanthemum, which had been amongst the most favoured flowers of Shah Jahan's court, (see Christie's London, 27 October 2022, lot 200). Similarly, the lattice can be seen in the illuminated borders of album pages of the period as seen on a page in the Emperor's Album, (Stuart Cary Welch, Annemarie Schimmel, Marie L. Swietochowski and Wheeler M. Thackston, The Emperor's Album, New York, 1987, no.56, pp.196-7), and on a ceiling in the Aramgah, (Emperor's Bed chamber) in the Red Fort, Delhi, painted between 1639-48 (Daniel Walker, Flowers Underfoot, New York, 1997, p.140, fig.85, p.89). By the mid-1700s, however, as the Mughal Court transferred its economic and political focus from Persia to its western European trading allies, the botanical accuracy and design ethos was replaced with a more restrained, less organic flare, in line with the European aesthetic.

The present rug belongs to a small group of 'flower-in-lattice' pattern rugs, all of which have a delicately drawn lattice enclosing sprays of flowers shown facing forward and in three-quarter views, some depicted naturalistically, others more stylised. Some are woven as single columns while others display a wider paired column format. The border design of most, is of flowering carnations linked by angular stems and the guard stripes are decorated with rhythmically repeating flower heads. In addition to the present lot, the other examples in this group are; a long format runner in the Musée des Tissus, Lyon; an almost identical runner, formerly in the Figdor/Cassirer collection (ill. F. R. Martin, pI. XXIII), now in Detroit Institute of Art; a fragment in the Al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait; another fragment, presumably from the same carpet, in the Museum of Islamic Art, Qatar; a carpet sold from the Kevorkian Collection, Anderson Galleries, New York, March 11-13, 1922, lot 605; one sold from the Benguiat Collection, Anderson Galleries, New York, April 23, 1932, lot 26; another sold from the Untermyer Collection, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, May 10-11, 1940, lot 207; one sold from the Quill Jones Collection, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, March 21, 1952, lot 108; and one sold in these Rooms, 2 May 2019, lot 227, now in the Islamic Arts Museum, Malaysia, (exhibition catalogue, A Journey Through Islamic Art, Kuala Lumpur, 2023, p.191. pl.2.51). A number of these examples, including the Corcoran carpet, have golden yellow guard stripes and purple minor stripes flanking the red border, whereas the present carpet has the opposite arrangement with deep purple guard stripes and yellow minor stripes.

In India, like most other weaving centres in the world at that time, silk was considered one of the most precious of materials but also the most fragile, making those that survive today very rare indeed. The deep ruby-red ground compliments the rich purple and golden yellow colours of the design and the carpet has a luminous and luxurious quality. Its appearance must have been quite striking against the cool, white marble floors of the palace upon which it would have been laid.