Page 221 - ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND INDIAN WORLDS Carpets, Ceramics Objects, Christie's London Oct..27, 2022

VARIOUS PROPERTIES
■201
A MUGHAL RUG
NORTHERN INDIA, FIRST HALF 17TH CENTURY
Extensively corroded red ground with some associated repiling and localised
repair
6ft.5in. x 4ft. (195cm. x 121cm.)
£7,000-9,000 US$8,100-10,000
€8,100-10,000

PROVENANCE:
Bukowskis, Stockholm, 3 June 2020, lot 185
The elegant drawing of this rug shows a careful consideration for each
individual leaf, palmette and blossom, which are enhanced by the use of
outlining and decorating using ton-sur-ton colour combinations. The border
configuration and field design of the present rug relates closely to a number
of large format carpets including the famous Girdlers carpet commissioned
by Robert Bell in the 1630s for the Girdlers Company, a livery company in the
City of London (J. Irwin, The Girdlers Carpet, London, 1962, p.1). The surviving
East India Company records from 1630 and 1634 provide us with an exact
location and date for the commissioning and weaving of the carpet, which
help to give a precise date and weaving origin for this carpet. Two related
early seventeenth-century examples are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York (Dimand and Mailey Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York, 1973, fig.129, cat.55 and fig.130, cat.56). The first (cat.55),
previously in the collection of Lady Sackville and gifted by J.Pierpont Morgan,
has the same floral motifs in the overall field design but are arranged in a
different manner to create an alternative rhythm. The border on that carpet
is very different to this leaf and palmette border in that it comprises a series
of linked cartouche panels interspersed with small decorative cloudbands
and was inspired by classic late sixteenth-century Persian carpet design. The
second, much closer comparable to the present rug (cat.56), formerly in the
201
collection of George Blumenthal, is of a similar size to the present rug and
has the same field design of stems balanced on either side forming lozenges
along the long axis. Whilst that border is one of the closest to the present lot,
the leaves that flank each alternate palmette are smaller serrated saz leaves
rather than the curvaceous bunches of wisteria.

The popularity of this beautiful design is attested by the number of known
variants that remain in important collections today, including one in the
Glasgow Museums and Art Galleries, Burrell Collection (S.B. Sherrill,
Carpets and Rugs of Europe and America, New York, 1996, pl.161, p.148),
another in the Mosteiro de Santa Maria, Lorvo (J. Hallett and T.P. Pereira, The
Oriental Carpet in Portugal, Exhibition Catalogue, Lisbon, 2007, pl. 46, p.117)
and another which was sold from The V. and L. Benguiat Private Collection ■203
of Rare Old Rugs at the American Art Galleries, 4 & 5 December 1925, lot 34. AN EXTREMELY FINE PASHMINA RUG
POSSIBLY SHRINIGAR, KASHMIR, EARLY 20TH CENTURY York, and the other in the Musée des Tissus in Lyon. Both features a floral
Of Safavid 'compartment' design, of exceptionally fine weave, pashmina wool lattice in the ivory field, duelling dragons and phoenixes in the medallions
on a silk foundation, a few minute repairs, overall very good condition and a cartouche border containing a series of Chinese-inspired cloud bands
4ft. x 2ft.8in. (123cm. x 81cm.)
(M. S. Dimand and Jean Mailey, Oriental Rugs in Metropolitan Museum of Art,
■*202 £15,000-20,000 US$18,000-23,000 New York, 1973, p.98) . The only major departure from the original design on
AN AGRA RUG €18,000-23,000 the present lot is the substitution of elephants for the lion ch’i-lins inside the
secondary medallions, intended to give the rug a more Indian flavour.
NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1890
In overall very good condition PROVENANCE:
4ft.11in. x 3ft.10in. (151cm. x 117cm.) Sotheby’s, London, 13April 1988, lot 84 The turn of the century saw a concerted effort to develop India’s carpet
Private UK collection weaving industry, after the Great Exhibition of 1851 stimulated Western
£4,000-6,000 US$4,600-6,900 demand for Indian handicrafts. Carpets were manufactured in new factories,
€4,700-6,900 The knot measures approximately 22/23 V x 18H per cm. sq. often with the labour of India’s incarcerated population. The designs used
Though later than the Mughal pashmina carpet in the present sale, this smaller were frequently inspired by classical designs which had only recently begun
rug continues in the tradition established in those imperial workshops. It too to be published in watercolour plates. Though the expansion of the industry
is woven on a silk structure with a pashmina wool pile, suggesting a likely inevitably brought with it a loss in quality, this rug was likely used as a
origin in Kashmir, possibly in Srinagar. Its aesthetic is inspired by classical showpiece to demonstrate the apex of what was possible. It was and remains
202 prototypes: it is a miniaturised version of a design known from a pair of Safavid absolutely exceptional for the fineness of its weaving, the execution of its
compartment carpets, one kept in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New design, and the clarity of its drawing.
218 In addition to the hammer price, a Buyer’s Premium (plus VAT) is payable. Other taxes and/or an Artist Resale Royalty 219
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.