Page 137 - 2021 April 1, ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs, Christie's London

THE ROYAL COURT OF SHAH ‘ABBAS THE GREAT
The present carpet is typical of the elegant designs produced in the weaving
ateliers of Isfahan during the reign of Shah' Abbas I (1587-1629). At this time,
Isfahan was a thriving city, the court of a monarch who had completely changed
Persia, having moved his capital there in 1598 from Qazvin. In contrast to the
previous Shah of note, Shah Tahmasp, he welcomed foreigners with their trade
and innovations in all fields. He even appointed an Englishman, Sir Robert
Shirley, as his ambassador, to visit the courts of Europe and establish relations
with Persia. He was a great patron of the arts. Isfahan today owes her fame as
one of the most beautiful cities in the world more to his embellishments than
those of any other period. The school of painting in the capital developed a new
style, principally through the work of Reza 'Abbasi. This flowering in the arts was
all the more notable since the latter years of Shah Tahmasp had been strongly
influenced by his deep religious fervour which had resulted in his virtually
closing the royal workshops. The contrast between the new Shah and his recent
predecessor could not have been more marked.
Shah’ Abbas had a great appreciation for sumptuous textiles, silks and woven
carpets, and production in Isfahan rapidly grew under his patronage with
a number of workshops weaving simultaneously during the 17th century. A
number of these would have been working directly for the shah, producing
carpets which were specifically commissioned to be appreciated locally. Two
carpets of this group are known to have been given in royal waqf to the great
Shiite shrine of the Imam 'Ali at Najaf. European visitors travelling to Persia
at the time, commented specifically on the richness of the silk textiles and
carpets that they saw. John Fryer in 1676 notes that Isfahan had special bazaars
handling the sale of rugs "both woolen and silk, intermixed with Gold and Silver,
very costly, which are the peculiar manufacture of this country (quoted by M.S.
Dimand, and Jean Mailey, Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York, 1973, p.59). Other travellers who commented on the silk weavings in both
Kashan and Isfahan, include Pater Florentino de Niño Jesus in 1607-8, Thomas
Herbert in 1627-8 and Jean-Baptiste Tavernier in 1676. Sir John Chardin, who
visited Persia between 1666 and 1672, also noted that the workshops were (detail)
allowed, when they had time, to work for other clients as well as the Shah.
A large proportion of ‘Polonaise’ carpets made at the time found their way to
Europe having been given as ambassadorial gifts to royal families, religious
figures and deserving high-ranking officials and they found great favour with the details are other defining characteristics of the group, (Friedrich Spuhler,
Baroque nobility of the 17th century courts. (see, Portrait of Louis XV en costume Preben Mellbye-Hansen & Majken Thorvildsen, Denmark's Coronation Carpets,
de sacre, by Hyacinthe Rigaud, painted 1715, Musée Saint Remi, France). Copenhagen, 1987, p.32).
Brancati suggests that the Pamphilj carpet was gifted to the family by Queen
The absence of a single ground colour is replaced by curvaceous planes
Cristina of Sweden, a great patron of the arts and resident in Rome for many
defined by scrolling stems in-filled with different coloured silks and gold
years. However this is unsubstantiated and it is extremely possible that the head
and silver coloured metals. These harmonious and balanced compositions
of the Doria Pamphilj family at the time, Pope Innocent X, Giovanni Battista
of design and colour, although Persian inspired, were not however typical of
Pamphilj (1644-1655) was gifted the pair to the present carpet by the Shah or
Persian tastes but clearly corresponded to those of the West. There are two
perhaps was gifted both. Unfortunately the family archives are incomplete and
references in 1599 and 1601 that indicate that Polonaise carpets were being
those carpets that are mentioned are often inaccurately recorded so we cannot
produced in the last quarter of the 16th century but individual examples can
be certain.
only be dated on stylistic grounds. While it is generally accepted that the very
best pieces were produced over a period of forty to fifty years starting from
the first quarter of the 17th century, by the third, and particularly in the fourth
WEAVING CHARACTERISTICS
quarter, ‘Polonaise’ carpets show an obvious degeneration and by around
The term, ‘Polonaise’ was first coined at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1878 1700, had widely lost their importance, (‘Entwurfspraktiken safawidischer
where, in the Polish section of one of the pavilions, examples of this group of Hofmanufakturen am Beispiel der sog. Polenteppiche’, Friedrich Spuhler, HALI,
carpets belonging to the Princes Czartoryski, some bearing his recently added Autumn, 1978, pp.244-47).
personal coat of arms, were exhibited publicly for the first time (Kurt Erdmann,
Not including the present carpet, which retains an astonishing amount of silk
Europa und der Orientteppich, Mainz, 1962, pl.36, pp.84-5). Visitors and
pile and a significant proportion of silver and gold metal brocade, the vast
journalists mistakenly concluded that these carpets had been made in Poland
majority of surviving examples seen today are now faded in colour as the dyes
and it wasn’t until shortly after the exhibition had closed, that the true country
were fugitive and survive very worn and low in pile, due to the fragile nature
of origin was discovered. The Polish attribution however, persisted, and these
of the silk, making this lot particularly rare and attractive. Woven during the
carpets still bear the name ‘Polonaise’ today.
golden age of Safavid art, it is only befitting that 'Polonaise' rugs with their
One of the main characteristics of the group were their brightly coloured silk, gold and silver-thread epitomize this era to many scholars and collectors
palettes of silk woven on a cotton warp and silk weft foundation. The addition today, who view these rugs with an appreciation equal to that of the European
of brocaded gold and, or silvered metal-thread would have made their travellers visiting the Persian court during the first half of the seventeenth
appearance both dazzling and brilliant. The absence of distinct lines, the lack century. It is indeed a rare opportunity to see an example that has remained
of figural representations and an overtly baroque treatment of the individual hidden for the past half a century and remains so well preserved.
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