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Descriptif du lot
Besides native religious and Western themes, (see lots 189-190 in the present sale), the Kirman workshops popularised the fashion for weaving portraits of contemporary, historic, and mythological rulers (Annette Ittig, ‘Carpets xi. Qajar Period,’ Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online). According to the inscription in the upper cartouche on the present carpet, the design was originally woven bearing the central portrait of the Safavid ruler, Shah ‘Abbas . The upper half of the portrait has since been rewoven, leaving just the shoulders decorated with what appears to be a string of pearls and jewelled buttons, and replaced with elongated flowering stems that fill the space in its place. Despite this we are able to visualise the portrait, as a closely related cartoon displaying Shah ‘Abbas with his decorated dulband and characteristic drooping moustache enclosed within a millefleurs ground, is seen on a smaller Kirman rug, sold in these Rooms, 2 October 2012, lot 46.
As to the reason the portrait was removed we cannot be certain. Perhaps the carpet passed to a member of the Qajar nobility who disliked their Safavid predecessor? Although the design has been altered, the reweave was professionally executed and appears to have been in situ for some considerable time.
The cartouche below the medallion reads; sefaresh-e mohammad reza khan, 'Commissioned by Mohammad Reza Khan'. This refers to Mohammad-Reza Khan Sardar-e Fateh (1885-1934), the ninth son of Emamqoli Khan, known as Haji Ilkani, and the father of Saphur Baktiar (b.1914), the last prime minister of Mohammed-Reza Shah Pahlavi (Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol.III, New York, 2000, p.549). His name usually appears in cartouches below the name of more senior members of the Qajar elite, who would commission (lit. “commanded”, farmayesh) a carpet, while Mohammad Reza Khan, acting as their agents, would order it (sefaresh) (Annette Ittig, ‘The Kirmani Boom—A Study in Carpet Entrepreneurship’, Walter Denny and Robert Pinner, eds., Oriental Carpet & Textile Studies, Vol.1, London, 1985, pp.118). Mohammad Reza Khan would later “command” an historic Persian carpet woven in Kirman immediately in the aftermath of the victory of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1906-9), currently in the Golestan Palace in Tehran, signalling his increasing affluence.
The carpet was ordered from the workshop of the Master weaver 'Ali Kirmani (1877-1901), later titled ‘Ali Honari, who is recorded as one of the most skilled carpet weavers of Kirman and can be considered the best of the late Qajar period. He was particularly known for his pictorial weavings, with his most famous apprentice being Mohammad Ibn Ja’far (Hadi Maktabi, ‘Masters of Persia’, HALI, Issue 211, p.105), but his patterns that frame the medallion on this carpet are equally impressive and derive from the buta pattern associated with shawls woven in Kirman and Kashmir at the time (for the production of the latter, see lot 145 in the present sale).
Interestingly, Mohammad Reza would often order impressive carpets with ‘Ali Kirmani on multiple occasions. For three other examples sold in these Rooms, see 16 April 2007, lot 33; 19 April 2016, lot 58; and 30 April 2026, lot 182.
As to the reason the portrait was removed we cannot be certain. Perhaps the carpet passed to a member of the Qajar nobility who disliked their Safavid predecessor? Although the design has been altered, the reweave was professionally executed and appears to have been in situ for some considerable time.
The cartouche below the medallion reads; sefaresh-e mohammad reza khan, 'Commissioned by Mohammad Reza Khan'. This refers to Mohammad-Reza Khan Sardar-e Fateh (1885-1934), the ninth son of Emamqoli Khan, known as Haji Ilkani, and the father of Saphur Baktiar (b.1914), the last prime minister of Mohammed-Reza Shah Pahlavi (Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol.III, New York, 2000, p.549). His name usually appears in cartouches below the name of more senior members of the Qajar elite, who would commission (lit. “commanded”, farmayesh) a carpet, while Mohammad Reza Khan, acting as their agents, would order it (sefaresh) (Annette Ittig, ‘The Kirmani Boom—A Study in Carpet Entrepreneurship’, Walter Denny and Robert Pinner, eds., Oriental Carpet & Textile Studies, Vol.1, London, 1985, pp.118). Mohammad Reza Khan would later “command” an historic Persian carpet woven in Kirman immediately in the aftermath of the victory of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1906-9), currently in the Golestan Palace in Tehran, signalling his increasing affluence.
The carpet was ordered from the workshop of the Master weaver 'Ali Kirmani (1877-1901), later titled ‘Ali Honari, who is recorded as one of the most skilled carpet weavers of Kirman and can be considered the best of the late Qajar period. He was particularly known for his pictorial weavings, with his most famous apprentice being Mohammad Ibn Ja’far (Hadi Maktabi, ‘Masters of Persia’, HALI, Issue 211, p.105), but his patterns that frame the medallion on this carpet are equally impressive and derive from the buta pattern associated with shawls woven in Kirman and Kashmir at the time (for the production of the latter, see lot 145 in the present sale).
Interestingly, Mohammad Reza would often order impressive carpets with ‘Ali Kirmani on multiple occasions. For three other examples sold in these Rooms, see 16 April 2007, lot 33; 19 April 2016, lot 58; and 30 April 2026, lot 182.