Page 149 - 2021 April 1, ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs, Christie's London

VARIOUS PROPERTIES
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A PART-SILK SALOR MAIN CARPET
WEST TURKMENISTAN, CIRCA 1800
The luxurious wool and the technical consistency displayed by the group
With six columns of twelve guls, uneven wear, natural corrosion to silk, has led many to believe that they were woven in workshops owned by the
scattered repairs tribe. Mackie and Thompson note that the exceptional workmanship of these
10ft.6in. x 8ft.10in. (322cm. x 270cm.)
carpets, along with the luxurious materials themselves, would have been
£20,000-25,000 US$29,000-35,000 costly and serve as a reminder of the great wealth of the Central Asian tribes
€24,000-29,000 (Turkmen: Tribal carpets and traditions, 1980, p.69). The example published
by Mackie and Thompson, formerly part of the Leslie and Elisabeth Leifer
There still remains a question as to when and under what circumstances
collection, itself went on to achieve a world record when it was sold by the
Salor main carpets were woven. However, what is clear from the surviving
Austria Auction Company, Vienna, 16 September 2014, lot 125 (see HALI,
examples is that a strict formula was closely observed by the weavers, and
Winter 2014, no. 182, p.153). A Salor main carpet also displaying 6 columns
clearly understood and highly respected by the recipients of such carpets
of twelve guls was sold at Rippon Boswell, 19 May 2012, lot 158.
(Elena Tsareva, Turkmen Carpets: The Neville Kingston Collection, 2016,
p.29). The stability of the design repertoire is continued here in a display Further Salor main carpets are in notable collections including one in
of six rows of twelve typical Salor guls interspersed with smaller octagonal the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc.no. 1974.149.46), in the
motifs, within a stepped cruciform border. The magenta silk highlights in Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (Elena Tsareva, Teppiche aus Mittelasien
these decorative elements against the scarlet-red ground contributes to the und Kasachstan. Leningrad, 1984, no. 3), and another published in Antique
unusual beauty of these weavings. Oriental Carpets from Austrian Collections, 1986, pl. 103.
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