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Lot Essay
This suzani is extremely similar to one which sold Rippon Boswell, Wiesbaden, 3 December 2016, lot 76. Embroidered on a deep purple field, like ours the border had colourful and intricate flowerheads encircled by green and black vines, and similar blue pendants in the minor stripes. Both are of a similar large scale, with that example measuring 346 x 263cm. Although that example was catalogued as Shahrisabz, the note added that the palette was 'reminiscent of Lakai embroideries', and added that a similar fragment published by Russell S. Fling was catalogued as Lakai (Khans Nomads and Needlework: Suzanis and Embroideries of Central Asia, Columbus OH, 2012, no.22).
The high quality of drawing and scale of this piece indicates that it is likely to have been the product of a professional workshop, indicating that a Shahrisabz provenance might be more likely than a Lakai one. Jeff Spur publishes a suzani in the Russian Museum of Ethnography, St Petersburg (acc.no.21847-T), with a very similar coloured ground (Jeff Spurr, "Style matters: the case for Lakai suzanis", HALI 215, fig.17, p.73).
The high quality of drawing and scale of this piece indicates that it is likely to have been the product of a professional workshop, indicating that a Shahrisabz provenance might be more likely than a Lakai one. Jeff Spur publishes a suzani in the Russian Museum of Ethnography, St Petersburg (acc.no.21847-T), with a very similar coloured ground (Jeff Spurr, "Style matters: the case for Lakai suzanis", HALI 215, fig.17, p.73).