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Lot Essay
The knot count measures approximately 12V x 10H knots per cm. sq.
Zareh Penyamin (1890-1949), is perhaps the most celebrated of the ‘Koum Kapi’ atelier weavers. Born near Kayseri, he had initially draughted music scores before moving in 1906 to the Imperial workshop in Hereke where he was made chief designer. Recalled to Istanbul by Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1842-1918), Zareh was appointed to oversee the Imperial atelier at the Topkapi Palace, a position he held until 1922. Zareh went to exceptional lengths to study not only the designs but also the techniques of previous Armenian court weavers who had been employed since the 1840’s. He was known for his exacting standards and reputedly went so far as to unravel old weavings to study their structure so that he may in turn improve his techniques. Much of Zareh’s production was woven between 1916 and 1938 after which he stopped weaving due to ill health.
This prayer rug highlights the exacting draughtsmanship of the master weaver but also the technical ability required in the handling of the finely spun silk of the highest quality together with the elaborately gilded metal-thread. These valuable materials were manipulated and transformed, creating texture and movement with varying planes of relief and intricate designs which were greatly admired and collected by the court but also across Europe and the west. In a relatively short period the atelier of Zareh, and those of a small numer of other master weavers, had brought about a new style and technique of Turkish court weaving which sadly was relatively short lived, due to increased costs and the lack of skilled designers and weavers.
Helpfully, Zareh adopted a square-kufic signature as his trademark, rendering his first name in Arabic script. This indicates his debt to the imperial workshop at Hereke, which also used a square-kufic signature on carpets. Pamela Bensoussan publishes a group of cartoons for a 'Sultan's Head' prayer rug, which were acquired from the widow of Zareh Penyamin (“The Masterweavers of Istanbul”, HALI 26, 1985, p.38). Interestingly, on those cartoons the square-kufic signature in the metal-thread central cartouche, do not spell Zareh's name but another word, possibly Awam. The meaning of this signature has proved elusive. Based on the fact that the cartoons were with Armin Penyamin, as well as the similarity of design between the cartoon and the woven rugs such as the present lot, it is now considered to be an early signature used by Zareh, while he was possibly still at the Hereke workshop. The signature on this rug reads as 'Zareh' rather than 'Awam', making this rug incontrovertibly the work of Penyamin.
The ogee profile of the niche bears a resemblance to the so-called ‘Topkapi’ carpets. Though their exact date and place of manufacture is a source of some disagreement among scholars, they had begun to be published around the turn of the twentieth century in books such as, F. R. Martin’s A History of Oriental Carpets before 1800, Sarre and Trenkwald’s Alt-Orientalische Teppiche, and Arthur Upham Pope’s multi-volume Survey of Persian Art. The advent of colour printing meant that, for the first time, designers like Zareh could access carpets which had hitherto been hidden in aristocratic and royal treasuries, and study their designs. It is also, of course, possible that Zareh was able to see some of the rugs in the museum of the Topkapi palace, only a stone’s throw from Koum Kapi and opened as a museum by decree of the Turkish government in April 1924.
Beyond the shape of the prayer niche, other similarities between this rug and the Topkapi prayer rugs include the abundance of calligraphy – with the apotropaic ‘Throne Verse’ in the main border cartouches – and the appearance of Chinese-inspired cloud-bands in the mihrab niche. Zareh did introduce new elements of his own to the design, including the niches decorated with prayer lamps and birds, which George Farrow identified as hoopoes, and the minor stripe around the edge of the rug which mirrors the shape of the central niche. The incorporation of metal-thread allowed Zareh to add texture to his rugs, making the cloud-bands and calligraphy stand in greater relief.
Two slight variants of this rug seem to have been woven by Zareh. The first group, to which the present lot belongs, has a shortened field deign which finishes just below the lower cloud-band inside the niche. Examples of this group include one published by Pamela Bensoussan (op.cit., p.18) as well as examples sold in these Rooms 16 October 2003, lot 150 and 29 April 13 October 2005, lot 21. The second group, continues the design for a few inches below the lower cloud-band, and also extends the design sideways. Examples of this extended version sold in these Rooms; 15 October 1998, lot 289; 29 April 2004, lot 76 and more recently 25 April 2024, lot 171, from the collection of George Farrow.
Zareh Penyamin (1890-1949), is perhaps the most celebrated of the ‘Koum Kapi’ atelier weavers. Born near Kayseri, he had initially draughted music scores before moving in 1906 to the Imperial workshop in Hereke where he was made chief designer. Recalled to Istanbul by Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1842-1918), Zareh was appointed to oversee the Imperial atelier at the Topkapi Palace, a position he held until 1922. Zareh went to exceptional lengths to study not only the designs but also the techniques of previous Armenian court weavers who had been employed since the 1840’s. He was known for his exacting standards and reputedly went so far as to unravel old weavings to study their structure so that he may in turn improve his techniques. Much of Zareh’s production was woven between 1916 and 1938 after which he stopped weaving due to ill health.
This prayer rug highlights the exacting draughtsmanship of the master weaver but also the technical ability required in the handling of the finely spun silk of the highest quality together with the elaborately gilded metal-thread. These valuable materials were manipulated and transformed, creating texture and movement with varying planes of relief and intricate designs which were greatly admired and collected by the court but also across Europe and the west. In a relatively short period the atelier of Zareh, and those of a small numer of other master weavers, had brought about a new style and technique of Turkish court weaving which sadly was relatively short lived, due to increased costs and the lack of skilled designers and weavers.
Helpfully, Zareh adopted a square-kufic signature as his trademark, rendering his first name in Arabic script. This indicates his debt to the imperial workshop at Hereke, which also used a square-kufic signature on carpets. Pamela Bensoussan publishes a group of cartoons for a 'Sultan's Head' prayer rug, which were acquired from the widow of Zareh Penyamin (“The Masterweavers of Istanbul”, HALI 26, 1985, p.38). Interestingly, on those cartoons the square-kufic signature in the metal-thread central cartouche, do not spell Zareh's name but another word, possibly Awam. The meaning of this signature has proved elusive. Based on the fact that the cartoons were with Armin Penyamin, as well as the similarity of design between the cartoon and the woven rugs such as the present lot, it is now considered to be an early signature used by Zareh, while he was possibly still at the Hereke workshop. The signature on this rug reads as 'Zareh' rather than 'Awam', making this rug incontrovertibly the work of Penyamin.
The ogee profile of the niche bears a resemblance to the so-called ‘Topkapi’ carpets. Though their exact date and place of manufacture is a source of some disagreement among scholars, they had begun to be published around the turn of the twentieth century in books such as, F. R. Martin’s A History of Oriental Carpets before 1800, Sarre and Trenkwald’s Alt-Orientalische Teppiche, and Arthur Upham Pope’s multi-volume Survey of Persian Art. The advent of colour printing meant that, for the first time, designers like Zareh could access carpets which had hitherto been hidden in aristocratic and royal treasuries, and study their designs. It is also, of course, possible that Zareh was able to see some of the rugs in the museum of the Topkapi palace, only a stone’s throw from Koum Kapi and opened as a museum by decree of the Turkish government in April 1924.
Beyond the shape of the prayer niche, other similarities between this rug and the Topkapi prayer rugs include the abundance of calligraphy – with the apotropaic ‘Throne Verse’ in the main border cartouches – and the appearance of Chinese-inspired cloud-bands in the mihrab niche. Zareh did introduce new elements of his own to the design, including the niches decorated with prayer lamps and birds, which George Farrow identified as hoopoes, and the minor stripe around the edge of the rug which mirrors the shape of the central niche. The incorporation of metal-thread allowed Zareh to add texture to his rugs, making the cloud-bands and calligraphy stand in greater relief.
Two slight variants of this rug seem to have been woven by Zareh. The first group, to which the present lot belongs, has a shortened field deign which finishes just below the lower cloud-band inside the niche. Examples of this group include one published by Pamela Bensoussan (op.cit., p.18) as well as examples sold in these Rooms 16 October 2003, lot 150 and 29 April 13 October 2005, lot 21. The second group, continues the design for a few inches below the lower cloud-band, and also extends the design sideways. Examples of this extended version sold in these Rooms; 15 October 1998, lot 289; 29 April 2004, lot 76 and more recently 25 April 2024, lot 171, from the collection of George Farrow.