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Lot Essay
This striking fragment represents just under half of the original embroidery which would have had a complete concentric red and ivory eight-pointed stellar medallion issuing blue hooked foliate bracket leaves, flanked by red cruciform motifs above and below, surrounded by smaller hooked, stylised palmettes, zoomorphic and filler motifs, set upon a deep chocolate-brown field, enclosed within a narrow yellow scrolling 'S' motif border. Based on this fragment, the complete embroidered panel was likely around 150 x 120cm.
One of the first studies of the group to appear in English is Jennifer Wearden's, "A Synthesis of Contrasts" (HALI 59, 1991, pp.102-11). In it she proposed organising these embroideries into three groups based on the technique used to fill the coloured motifs: cross-stitch, surface darning, or a variant surface darning which creates diagonal lines. Of those techniques, ours sits comfortably in the second group, which requires a fine cloth ground and a weaver possessing both 'patience and good eye-sight' (Wearden, op.cit., p.106). Unlike the cross-stitch group (which survive in only a very small number of examples), the design in the second group is not legible on the back. A close-up illustration of the reverse of an embroidery from Wearden's group II was published by Zsuzsa Gibbons, "Azerbaijan", HALI 26, p.27.
Though Wearden addresses the question of dating, her conclusions are cautiously expressed. As regards the relationship between the cross-stitch and the surface-darned group, she suggests two possibilities: the first is that the cross-stitch embroideries were made in professional workshops while surface-darned examples were made domestically; the second is that cross-stitching gave way to surface darning around the year 1700, as silk became more expensive (Wearden, op.cit., p.108). Her hesitancy to argue for a chronological explanation reflects the close design similarities between some of the examples of the first two groups. Examples executed using both techniques have large central medallions and similar encircling motifs on a brown ground. Embroideries with smaller medallions on a pale ground mainly belong to the third group, and do seem to be somewhat later in date.
With its large central medallion, the horned motifs, and the busy profusion of enigmatic motifs on the brown field, this embroidery is visibly archaic. The almost square proportions and balanced colour palette of the complete textile also mark it out as an early example. The dominant central medallion is comparable in design to a contemporaneous embroidery in the David Collection, Copenhagen, (inv.no. 37 / 1969) as well as a fragment in the Victoria and Albert Museum dated to the late 17th or early 18th century (acc.no.70-1909). Another closely related embroidery has the red cruciform motifs which appear on the edges of our textile in the corners: one quarter of it was sold Rippon Boswell, Wiesbaden, 26 November 2011, lot 68, after which it was described in HALI as 'one of the best of its type' ('Auction Price Guide', HALI 171, 2012, P.120). Another half of it then sold Christie's London, 19 April 2016, lot 3. Another feature which that embroidery shares with ours is the inclusion of motifs immediately adjacent to the medallion which appear on all four corners, rotated slightly each time. On that example, it was orange palmettes, while on this one it is the white hooked flowerheads which appear oriented horizontally in the upper half and then vertically in the lower. The close proximity of panels and geometric motifs flanking a central medallion are noted by Christine Klose as having stemmed from Safavid tile patterns, see C. Klose, "The Transformation of Rug Designs" HALI, vol.4, no.4, p.351.
One of the first studies of the group to appear in English is Jennifer Wearden's, "A Synthesis of Contrasts" (HALI 59, 1991, pp.102-11). In it she proposed organising these embroideries into three groups based on the technique used to fill the coloured motifs: cross-stitch, surface darning, or a variant surface darning which creates diagonal lines. Of those techniques, ours sits comfortably in the second group, which requires a fine cloth ground and a weaver possessing both 'patience and good eye-sight' (Wearden, op.cit., p.106). Unlike the cross-stitch group (which survive in only a very small number of examples), the design in the second group is not legible on the back. A close-up illustration of the reverse of an embroidery from Wearden's group II was published by Zsuzsa Gibbons, "Azerbaijan", HALI 26, p.27.
Though Wearden addresses the question of dating, her conclusions are cautiously expressed. As regards the relationship between the cross-stitch and the surface-darned group, she suggests two possibilities: the first is that the cross-stitch embroideries were made in professional workshops while surface-darned examples were made domestically; the second is that cross-stitching gave way to surface darning around the year 1700, as silk became more expensive (Wearden, op.cit., p.108). Her hesitancy to argue for a chronological explanation reflects the close design similarities between some of the examples of the first two groups. Examples executed using both techniques have large central medallions and similar encircling motifs on a brown ground. Embroideries with smaller medallions on a pale ground mainly belong to the third group, and do seem to be somewhat later in date.
With its large central medallion, the horned motifs, and the busy profusion of enigmatic motifs on the brown field, this embroidery is visibly archaic. The almost square proportions and balanced colour palette of the complete textile also mark it out as an early example. The dominant central medallion is comparable in design to a contemporaneous embroidery in the David Collection, Copenhagen, (inv.no. 37 / 1969) as well as a fragment in the Victoria and Albert Museum dated to the late 17th or early 18th century (acc.no.70-1909). Another closely related embroidery has the red cruciform motifs which appear on the edges of our textile in the corners: one quarter of it was sold Rippon Boswell, Wiesbaden, 26 November 2011, lot 68, after which it was described in HALI as 'one of the best of its type' ('Auction Price Guide', HALI 171, 2012, P.120). Another half of it then sold Christie's London, 19 April 2016, lot 3. Another feature which that embroidery shares with ours is the inclusion of motifs immediately adjacent to the medallion which appear on all four corners, rotated slightly each time. On that example, it was orange palmettes, while on this one it is the white hooked flowerheads which appear oriented horizontally in the upper half and then vertically in the lower. The close proximity of panels and geometric motifs flanking a central medallion are noted by Christine Klose as having stemmed from Safavid tile patterns, see C. Klose, "The Transformation of Rug Designs" HALI, vol.4, no.4, p.351.