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Lot Essay
Although a fragment of a once larger carpet, the present lot remains incredibly arresting in both its design and colour. The intensely saturated red field is dominated with two ascending columns of alternate rows of large-scale, radiating and elongated palmettes. The fragment has been reduced both in length and in width along the central vertical axis and one can assume that there were at least one, or possibly two, further columns of palmettes in the original design. Around these, smaller geometric lozenges, flowerheads, palmettes and motifs are scattered in a rich array of colours, enclosed within a butter-yellow border of archaic 'S'-scroll design.
The floral design of this carpet is an unusual variant of the Floral Palmette carpets that were produced from as early as the late 16th century through to the 18th century. Formerly thought to have been made in Kuba in the Northern Caucasus, they are now believed to have been produced in Karabagh, on the Persian border. For a discussion on the origin of this group see C.G. Ellis, Early Caucasian Rugs, Washington D.C., 1976, pp.10-11). The group has been subdivided into a number of known design types, some of which contain a variety of details which are inter-related but do nevertheless differ considerably in detail. The fact that a relatively large number of these still exist today is largely as a result of their relative durability. As the majority appear to have been found in Turkey and on other well known trading routes, this has lead to the belief they were made not only for the local nobility but also for the export trade.
The large radiating palmettes on our carpet are similar to those found on both a red ground and on an unusual blue ground, vine-leaf palmette Karabagh carpet, both of which are in the Textile Museum, Washington, D.C. (C.G.Ellis, op.cit. pl.19 and 20). Like those two carpets, the design on ours is relatively openly spaced and the palmettes, which are here unconnected by a vine or lattice, hover independently of one another. The stylised, elongated medallions on our carpet are more unusual however. A red ground carpet of ascending palmette design, bearing similar, smaller ivory cartouches arranged horizontally rather than vertically as in ours, was in the Orient Stars collection (Heinrich Kirchheim et al., Orient Stars: a Carpet Collection, Stuttgart, 1993, p.141, pl.75).
The sandy-yellow border consists of a series of polychrome 'S'-motifs alternatively arranged either with a horizontal lozenge cartouche and extending hooked stems or protruding horizontal t-bars each side. This combination of motifs is seen on a series of early 18th century Caucasian carpets illustrated by S. Yetkin, Early Caucasian Carpets, Volume I, pls. 13, 16, 25, 26, 96, 139, 153 and 183. A later and stiffer drawn carpet of palmette design with a 'S' scroll border, is seen in C. G. Ellis, op.cit. p.104-5, pl.37.
The floral design of this carpet is an unusual variant of the Floral Palmette carpets that were produced from as early as the late 16th century through to the 18th century. Formerly thought to have been made in Kuba in the Northern Caucasus, they are now believed to have been produced in Karabagh, on the Persian border. For a discussion on the origin of this group see C.G. Ellis, Early Caucasian Rugs, Washington D.C., 1976, pp.10-11). The group has been subdivided into a number of known design types, some of which contain a variety of details which are inter-related but do nevertheless differ considerably in detail. The fact that a relatively large number of these still exist today is largely as a result of their relative durability. As the majority appear to have been found in Turkey and on other well known trading routes, this has lead to the belief they were made not only for the local nobility but also for the export trade.
The large radiating palmettes on our carpet are similar to those found on both a red ground and on an unusual blue ground, vine-leaf palmette Karabagh carpet, both of which are in the Textile Museum, Washington, D.C. (C.G.Ellis, op.cit. pl.19 and 20). Like those two carpets, the design on ours is relatively openly spaced and the palmettes, which are here unconnected by a vine or lattice, hover independently of one another. The stylised, elongated medallions on our carpet are more unusual however. A red ground carpet of ascending palmette design, bearing similar, smaller ivory cartouches arranged horizontally rather than vertically as in ours, was in the Orient Stars collection (Heinrich Kirchheim et al., Orient Stars: a Carpet Collection, Stuttgart, 1993, p.141, pl.75).
The sandy-yellow border consists of a series of polychrome 'S'-motifs alternatively arranged either with a horizontal lozenge cartouche and extending hooked stems or protruding horizontal t-bars each side. This combination of motifs is seen on a series of early 18th century Caucasian carpets illustrated by S. Yetkin, Early Caucasian Carpets, Volume I, pls. 13, 16, 25, 26, 96, 139, 153 and 183. A later and stiffer drawn carpet of palmette design with a 'S' scroll border, is seen in C. G. Ellis, op.cit. p.104-5, pl.37.