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Lot Essay
The knot count measures approximately 8V x 8H per cm. sq.
Specifically noted within the inscriptions cartouche's in the borders, this carpet was woven as an intended gift to be given at Nowruz to celebrate the start of the Persian new year.
The field design of this carpet depicts the court of the Sassanian king, Bahram Gur (r.420-38), clad as a Qajar prince. Albeit a historical character, Bahram Gur is known for his literary appearances in the epics of the Shahnama by Firdawsi (1010) and the quintet Khamsa of Nizami (1141-1209), besides a range of other works (see William L. Hanaway, Bahrām V Gōr in Persian Legend and Literature, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1988, Online). Here, however, we see a variation of his depiction that, to the best of our knowledge, has neither been woven in a carpet nor illustrated in a manuscript before.
In Firdawsi's story, Prince Bahram was sent to live in Arabia as a child, gaining a reputation as an excellent hunter with an eye for women. When he learnt of his father's death, he returned to rule, but was rejected by the Persian court as their king until he had proven himself. They thus challenged him to take the throne and its crown which were guarded by two chained lions. Killing both animals with his mace, Bahram was finally crowned Shah of Iran. Our carpet however, depicts most of the people surrounding Bahram as crowned foreign rulers rather than court members, and the lions he had supposedly just killed, remain alive and chained, and are depicted guarding the Royal Kiani Crown of the Qajar dynasty (1794-1925). Nizami, who partly based his epic on Firdawsi's, made a romance out of Bahram's story in his Haft Paykar, in which he visited seven different princesses on seven consecutive nights. Here, however, six of them, in fact three mirrored princesses, are looking on from their pavilions rather than being visited. Our weaver or designer, not guided by any surrounding text, has thus combined the different stories. Well-aware of his original composition, he felt the need to explain it in two unusual inscriptions: 'The court, not the pavilion, of Bahram Gur’.
Iconographically, Bahram's enthronement scenes in illustrated manuscripts are usually depicted inside a palace, but only one miniature of Bahram in the Cambridge Shahnama Project database shows two women on the balcony following his enthronement (in the Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis, O. 50, f.365v), while a similar depiction featuring one woman was sold in these Rooms, 23 April 2015, lot 61. Both were painted in the 17th century. The present carpet also shows typical scenes of well-known legends from Nizami's Khamsa in the panels above and below Bahram's scene, including from Layla and Majnun and Khusraw and Shirin. Pictorial silk rugs depicting Bahram Gur, usually while hunting, were frequently woven in Kashan, such as two sold in these Rooms, 7 October 2010, lot 65, and 24 October 2019, lot 264.
Specifically noted within the inscriptions cartouche's in the borders, this carpet was woven as an intended gift to be given at Nowruz to celebrate the start of the Persian new year.
The field design of this carpet depicts the court of the Sassanian king, Bahram Gur (r.420-38), clad as a Qajar prince. Albeit a historical character, Bahram Gur is known for his literary appearances in the epics of the Shahnama by Firdawsi (1010) and the quintet Khamsa of Nizami (1141-1209), besides a range of other works (see William L. Hanaway, Bahrām V Gōr in Persian Legend and Literature, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1988, Online). Here, however, we see a variation of his depiction that, to the best of our knowledge, has neither been woven in a carpet nor illustrated in a manuscript before.
In Firdawsi's story, Prince Bahram was sent to live in Arabia as a child, gaining a reputation as an excellent hunter with an eye for women. When he learnt of his father's death, he returned to rule, but was rejected by the Persian court as their king until he had proven himself. They thus challenged him to take the throne and its crown which were guarded by two chained lions. Killing both animals with his mace, Bahram was finally crowned Shah of Iran. Our carpet however, depicts most of the people surrounding Bahram as crowned foreign rulers rather than court members, and the lions he had supposedly just killed, remain alive and chained, and are depicted guarding the Royal Kiani Crown of the Qajar dynasty (1794-1925). Nizami, who partly based his epic on Firdawsi's, made a romance out of Bahram's story in his Haft Paykar, in which he visited seven different princesses on seven consecutive nights. Here, however, six of them, in fact three mirrored princesses, are looking on from their pavilions rather than being visited. Our weaver or designer, not guided by any surrounding text, has thus combined the different stories. Well-aware of his original composition, he felt the need to explain it in two unusual inscriptions: 'The court, not the pavilion, of Bahram Gur’.
Iconographically, Bahram's enthronement scenes in illustrated manuscripts are usually depicted inside a palace, but only one miniature of Bahram in the Cambridge Shahnama Project database shows two women on the balcony following his enthronement (in the Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis, O. 50, f.365v), while a similar depiction featuring one woman was sold in these Rooms, 23 April 2015, lot 61. Both were painted in the 17th century. The present carpet also shows typical scenes of well-known legends from Nizami's Khamsa in the panels above and below Bahram's scene, including from Layla and Majnun and Khusraw and Shirin. Pictorial silk rugs depicting Bahram Gur, usually while hunting, were frequently woven in Kashan, such as two sold in these Rooms, 7 October 2010, lot 65, and 24 October 2019, lot 264.