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Lot Essay
The knot count measures approximately 10V x 11H per cm. sq.
Although this rug is unsigned, there is little doubt that it was woven in the workshop of a Koum Kapi master weaver. This particular design, with the inclusion of the hanging mosque lamps within the prayer spandrels, the added polychrome decoration within the metal thread and the technical ability required in the handling of the material, are all characteristics of the work of the grand master, Zareh Penyamin.
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. The ogee profile of the niche on this rug bears a resemblance to the so-called ‘Topkapi’ prayer 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. It is also, of course, possible that Zareh was able to see some of the rugs in the Topkapi palace, only a stone’s throw from Koum Kapi, which 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 was noted for introducing personal elements of his own to the design, including the niches decorated with prayer lamps and birds, which are 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 adds texture to the rug, creating a deeper relief effect in the cloud-bands and calligraphic inscriptions.
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 (“The Master Weavers of Istanbul”, HALI 26, 1985, p.18) as well as examples sold in these Rooms 16 October 2003, lot 150; 29 April 13 October 2005, lot 21 and 30 October 2005, lot 130. 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.
Although this rug is unsigned, there is little doubt that it was woven in the workshop of a Koum Kapi master weaver. This particular design, with the inclusion of the hanging mosque lamps within the prayer spandrels, the added polychrome decoration within the metal thread and the technical ability required in the handling of the material, are all characteristics of the work of the grand master, Zareh Penyamin.
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. The ogee profile of the niche on this rug bears a resemblance to the so-called ‘Topkapi’ prayer 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. It is also, of course, possible that Zareh was able to see some of the rugs in the Topkapi palace, only a stone’s throw from Koum Kapi, which 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 was noted for introducing personal elements of his own to the design, including the niches decorated with prayer lamps and birds, which are 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 adds texture to the rug, creating a deeper relief effect in the cloud-bands and calligraphic inscriptions.
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 (“The Master Weavers of Istanbul”, HALI 26, 1985, p.18) as well as examples sold in these Rooms 16 October 2003, lot 150; 29 April 13 October 2005, lot 21 and 30 October 2005, lot 130. 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.