Page 239 - ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND INDIAN WORLDS Carpets, Ceramics Objects, Christie's London Oct..27, 2022

Pierre Loti, in his extravagant house in Rochefort, in oriental attire.
© Culture Club/Collection Hulton Archive-Getty
■*221
AN AYDINLI KILIM
SOUTH CENTRAL ANATOLIA, MID 18TH CENTURY
Woven in two panels, light localised corrosion, lined, overall very good
condition.
9ft.9in. x 5ft.3in. (298cm. x 160cm.)
£5,000-7,000 US$5,800-8,000
€5,800-8,000

PROVENANCE:
Jean-Renaud Geoffroy et Yves Bequet Sarl, Peintures, bijoux, argenterie
meubles et objets d'art fonds Pierre Lotti, 10 October 2020, lot 166
The kilims of the Konya region are prized for their large ivory-field designs,
woven in two parts. A similar border design to the present kilim, also woven by
the Aydinli tribal group, is published in Yanni Petsopoulos, Kilims, London, 1979,
p. 120. Though Aydinli Konya kilims normally have a field with a small number
of large medallions, examples also with small ascending motifs are published in
Alastair Hull and Jose Luczyc-Wyhowska, Kilim: The Complete Guide, Thames
and Hudson, London, 1993, p. 163. Konya Kilims with such motifs were also sold
in these rooms on 10 April 2008, lot 35, and 24 April 2012, lot 128.
This kilim was formerly part of the collection of Pierre Loti (1850-1933), a
French naval officer and novelist known for his exotic novels and short
stories who wrote under the pseudonym, Louis Marie-Julien Viaud. On
passing through Istanbul in 1877, on his way to a military campaign, he
was struck by the majesty and beauty of the city and the Ottoman style.
He continued to visit Istanbul between 1876 and 1913 where he became
close friends with Abdulmecid II, an Ottoman prince and the last Calif of
the Ottoman empire. Loti collected many objects from Asia and the Middle
East with which he furnished his house in Rochefort, France which he
named "the house of the world".

The right wing of ‘The Mosque’, Rochefort
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