Country of Origin: Persia/Iran

JBOC Comments: This is a truly incredible rug. It is one of the greatest rugs of the Safavid period. Christie's is an important auction house with a good reputation. I have great respect for Christie's Islamic Art department in London UK. William Robinson is the International Specialist Head, Rugs & Carpets, King Street, London UK. He is a man of exceptional taste and discernment. I can only wonder then if he agrees with this auction description.

Christie's cataloger wrote, "Creator ISFAHAN, CENTRAL PERSIA, 16TH/17TH CENTURY". Lets take "16TH/17TH CENTURY" first. This is technically correct but placing this rug in a two hundred time slice seems excessive. I take a more modest slice. On the basis of a number of factors including comparison of the design with the court art of the Safavid period I attribute this rug to 1551 to 1556. Obviously if we narrow this rug to the 1550s Isfahan becomes problematic and improbable. So then where was this rug made? Back to my simple rule, ex nihilo nihil fit or as it applies in this case Court carpets come from Court workshops.

Where then were the courts that could have produced this rug? Tabriz had waned by this point. The Court of Shah Tahmasp had ceased making small format decorative objects. We are left with two courts capable of making this rug in the mid-16th century, Shiraz and the court of Soltan Ibrahim Mirza in Khorasan. Shiraz is out, the art is not at all in the style of the art of Shiraz. That leaves Soltan Ibrahim Mirza court in Khorasan. Isfahan was not a significant producer of small format art until after the death of Shah Tahmasp.

In 1553 Sulaiman invaded Persia. Shah Tahmasp's son defeated the Turks at Erzurum but over all the Turks triumphed militarily. After two years the a treaty was signed giving Tabriz to the Persians. With the treaty came a treasure trove of presents to the Ottoman Sultan. Caravans loaded with rugs and carpets, books, textiles, silk and spice. It was at this point that the best of the Topkapi rugs and carpets entered the Imperial treasury. We then come up with an interesting set of known facts. This rug belongs to a small related group of rugs that were in the Imperial Ottoman treasury and are known today as Topkapi prayer rugs. With the similarities within the group it is reasonable to assume that the group entered the treasury together. Further more it is both reasonable and proper to conclude that these rugs were made in the same time and place. A few years difference in age is possible but even 15 or 20 years is not credible. Based on the work of Dr. Nevin Enez we know that these rugs as a group use dyes not available in Turkey but in common usage in Iran.

Description

Sale Title ORIENTAL RUGS AND CARPETS


Location London, King Street Sale Date Oct 13, 2005
Lot Number 50 Sale Number 7078
Creator ISFAHAN, CENTRAL PERSIA, 16TH/17TH CENTURY

Lot Title A SAFAVID WOOL AND METAL-THREAD PRAYER RUG

Estimate 80,000 - 120,000 British pounds
Pre-lot Text THE PEREZ "TOPKAPI" PRAYER RUG
Lot Description A SAFAVID WOOL AND METAL-THREAD PRAYER RUG
ISFAHAN, CENTRAL PERSIA, 16TH/17TH CENTURY
Minor localised wear, corroded metal-thread, a few small repairs and reweaves
5ft.5in. x 3ft.5in. (165cm. x 104cm.)

Provenance With Perez & Co., London
with C. John, London;
George Farrow Collection, Monte Carlo
Sotheby's London, 18 May 1967, Lot 143 (withdrawn)
Purchased by present owner's father before 1975

Literature R.E.G. Macey, Oriental Prayer Rugs, Leigh-on-Sea, 1961, p.51
Kiss Aladár Ledács and Brenner Klára Szütsné, Ismerjük Meg A Keleti Szönyegeket, Budapest, 1963, fig.90
Murray L. Eiland Jr. and Robert Pinner (eds.), Oriental Carpet and Textile Studies ("OCTS"), Vol.V, Part 2, no.23, pp.45, 88, 113 and 119.

Lot Notes Knot count: 9H x 9V per cm. sq.

The inscriptions are from the Qur'an. The main cartouches contain the Throne verse, surat al-baqara (ii), v.255 (God; There is no God but He, the living, eternal, self subsisting, ever-sustaining. Neither does somnolence affect him, nor sleep. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth; and who can intercede with Him except by His leave? Known to Him is all that is present before men and what is hidden, in time past and time future, and not even a little of His knowledge can they grasp except what He will. His seat extends over heavens and the earth and he tires not protecting them; He alone is all high and supreme).

The inner border contains surat al-ahzab (xxxiii), v.55 (God and His angels shower their blessings on the Prophet. O believers, you should also send your blessings on Him and salute Him with worthy greeting).

The lobed cartouches in the main border, one containing a mirrored image of the other, translate "Glory to my Most High Lord, and to His Praise"

Five rugs are knwon, of which this is one, each with almost identical design and structure. One, which was probably woven as a pair to our rug, known as the Indjoudjian-Paris Niche rug, is now in a private collection (OCTS V, 2, no.24, pp.45, 88-9 etc.). Another with slight variations in design and in the colouring of some of the motifs, is in the Topkapi Palace Collection Istanbul, together with the last two of the group, each of which has a red field (Michael Rogers and Hülye Tezcan, Topkapi Saray Museum, Carpets, London, 1987, nos.23-25, p.135). Michael Franses suggests that all five are the products of the same master weaver (OCTS V, 2, p,45). As a group, they are themselves among the rugs referred to in the literature as the Topkapi Prayer Rugs.

When these rugs were first published they were hailed as masterpieces of Safavid weaving, and whenever there was a chance, they were purchased by the leading collectors of the day. Benjamin Altman, Alfred Goupil, Prince Youssef Kamal, Mme Paravicini and Charles Yerkes are among the better known owners of some of the group in the first half of the twentieth century. Then in 1934 Kurt Erdmann challenged their attribution, and was followed in this by a number of academics who followed. In the last fifteen years however science has been able to add information which strongly supports a reversion to the Safavid attribution. This history and the development of thinking on the subject is covered in considerable detail in the Oriental Carpet and Textile Studies volume noted above.

The present rug is part of the most typical subgroup of Topkapi prayer rugs. The radiocarbon test performed on it is entirely consistent with the proposed dating, and also with the results obtained on the other rugs from the group that have been tested. What is more, the results show that there is no possibility at all of it having been made between 1805 and 1935, the period in which it would have had to have been made were it not to have been of the original Safavid period.

The results of AMS Radiocarbon Dating, performed at the Institute of Particle Physics, Hönggerberg, Zurich, Lab sample number ETH-30800 sent on 28 June 2005 give an age of 255 +/- 40 years BP. The more detailed analysis of the calibrated age with probabilities in brackets is as follows:

AD 1493-1502 ( 0.9
AD 1514-1599 (30.4
AD 1615-1679 (46.4
AD 1739-1754 ( 1.6
AD 1756-1805 (18.1
AD 1935-1947 ( 2.6

Seen on www.Christies.com

Please visit Mashad-Rugs on Squidoo