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Lot Essay
While the classic 'vase' carpet has a three-plane lattice arranged linking at flowerheads and vases, from whence the name originates, carpets with single-plane lattices have been woven in the same technique from the beginning of the same period. The finest and earliest of these is undoubtedly the Lady Dudley shrub carpet, sold Sotheby's, London 11 October 1990, lot 706. In the later periods of manufacture of carpets in this technique, there are a few pieces which have the same general layout but which are far stiffer in execution. A very important document for the dating of the later group is a single lattice carpet in the Iran Bastan Museum in Teheran which is signed by 'Ustad Muhammad Sharif Kirmani and dated AH 1172 (1758-9 AD). By the time this was made, the ogival panels of the Lady Dudley carpet, which are given extra movement by the enclosing arabesques alternating between blue and yellow, have changed to a strict lozenge lattice. A few other examples can be found, the majority of which also have the very regular lozenge lattice, mostly formed by leaf-motifs or branches rather than arabesques (Beattie, May H.: Carpets of Central Persia with special reference to Rugs of Kirman, Sheffield and Birmingham exhibition catalogue, Westerham, 1976, no.57, pp.80-81; Pope, Arthur Upham: A Survey of Persian Art, Oxford, 1938, pl.1241). The field of the present rug represents a stage in the development between the two extremes; the lattice still retains far more of the curvilinear outline and is enclosed within blue and yellow arabesques.
The border is one which is found on a small number of vase carpets, both with field designs related to the present example (Beattie: op.cit, no.56, pp.80-81) and on carpets with the more normal three-plane lattice field (Benguiat sale, American Art Association, New York, 19-22 November 1922, lot 735; Klose, Christine: 'Betrachtungen zu nordwestpersischen Gartenteppichen des 18. Jahrhunderts' HALI, volume 1, no.2, Summer 1978, pl.8, p.118). Its form, as May Beattie points out, derives from an abstraction of an early vase carpet (and for that matter Mughal carpet) field design element as in Beattie: op. cit., no.14, p.49). This same border later can also be seen on a small group of South Persian weavings which use a different technique but take their field and border designs from vase carpets (Grote-Hasenbalg, Werner: Der Orientteppich, seine Geschichte und seine Kultur, Berlin, 1922, vol.III, pl 62; also one sold in these Rooms 21 October 1993, lot 519).
The border is one which is found on a small number of vase carpets, both with field designs related to the present example (Beattie: op.cit, no.56, pp.80-81) and on carpets with the more normal three-plane lattice field (Benguiat sale, American Art Association, New York, 19-22 November 1922, lot 735; Klose, Christine: 'Betrachtungen zu nordwestpersischen Gartenteppichen des 18. Jahrhunderts' HALI, volume 1, no.2, Summer 1978, pl.8, p.118). Its form, as May Beattie points out, derives from an abstraction of an early vase carpet (and for that matter Mughal carpet) field design element as in Beattie: op. cit., no.14, p.49). This same border later can also be seen on a small group of South Persian weavings which use a different technique but take their field and border designs from vase carpets (Grote-Hasenbalg, Werner: Der Orientteppich, seine Geschichte und seine Kultur, Berlin, 1922, vol.III, pl 62; also one sold in these Rooms 21 October 1993, lot 519).