Page 200 - ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND INDIAN WORLDS Carpets, Ceramics Objects, Christie's London Oct..27, 2022

Amir Lashgar Mahmoud Ayrom (1881-1933) Amir Lashgar Mahmoud Ayrom, seated on the right
THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
■*187
A NEAR PAIR OF QASHQAI
MILLEFLEURS PRAYER RUGS
SOUTH PERSIA, CIRCA 1900
Overall excellent condition
7ft.10in. x 4ft.10in. (240cm. x 148cm.);
7ft.7in. x 4ft.11in. (230cm. x 150cm.) (2)
£15,000-25,000 US$18,000-29,000
€18,000-29,000
PROVENANCE:
Amir Lashgar Mahmoud Ayrom (1881-1933)
from whom they passed by descent to the
present owner
The ‘niche and millefleurs’ design of these
prayer rugs takes its cue from Mughal
pashmina carpets, such as the examples in
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
and in the Österreichisches Museum fur
Angewandte Kunst, Vienna (Daniel Walker,
Flowers Underfoot: Indian carpets of the
Mughal era, New York, 1997, pp.131-2). A pair
of cypress trees and spandrels in the top half
create a niche which frames a vase overflowing
with flowers. Likely woven in Kashmir in the
eighteenth century, those carpets were in turn
inspired by the ‘niche-and-flower’ carpets
which date from the reign of Shah Jahan
(r.1628-58). The present lot attests to the
198 In addition to the hammer price, a Buyer’s Premium (plus VAT) is payable. Other taxes and/or an Artist Resale Royalty
fee are also payable if the lot has a tax or λ symbol. Check Section D of the Conditions of Sale at the back of this catalogue.
hand side of Reza Shah together with other military
leaders
transmission of this design from India to Persia,
to be taken up by weavers from the semi-nomadic
Qashqa’i confederation in Fars province.
As well as being unusual as an almost-
perfectly matched pair, almost certainly woven
contemporaneously in the same atelier, these
carpets have a well-documented provenance.
They were owned by Amir Lashgar Mahmoud
Ayrom (1881-1933, see illustrations). The maternal
grandfather of the present consignor, he was a
decorated general in the Cossack Brigade and
a close ally of Reza Shah (r. 1925-41). He was
married to Ozra Ayromlu, cousin of Tajelmolouk
Ayromlou, Queen of Persia 1921-1945 through
her marriage to Reza Shah. The pair of rugs
then passed by descent to the present owner. A
Qashqa’i prayer rug woven to a similar design
and dated AH 1309/ 1891-92 AD was sold in
these Rooms, 10 April 2008, lot 98. A further
th
comparable rug is published by Eberhart
Herrman, Von Konya bis Kokand, Seltene
Orientteppiche, III, Munich, n.d., p.151, no.90.
For a further example of a nineteenth-century
interpretation of this classic design, see lot 199 of
the present sale.
199