Page 258 - ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND INDIAN WORLDS Carpets, Ceramics Objects, Christie's London Oct..27, 2022

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AN IMPRESSIVE LARGE SILK KOUM KAPI
CARPET
ISTANBUL, TURKEY, EARLY 20TH CENTURY
Of 'Garden' design, full pile throughout, overall
excellent condition
15ft.5in. x 10ft.6in. (475cm. x 325cm.)
£70,000-90,000 US$81,000-100,000
€81,000-100,000
The knot count measures approximately 9V x 9H
per cm. sq.

The famed 'garden' design, with its portrayal of
flowers, trees and other vegetation often with
a central fountain, is one of a large number of
seventeenth century designs created in South East
Persia which travelled to the North West of the
country in the eighteenth century. The prototype
of the design is found in a carpet woven in the
'vase' technique in the royal collection in Jaipur,
Rajasthan. Alberto Levi suggests that this migration
of design could have been due to the social and
political upheavals experienced at the beginning of
the 18th century in Persia, which may have forced
weavers from Kirman to relocate to Kurdistan
and Azerbaijan, "Renewal and Innovation, HALI,
Issue 70, pp.84-95. Both Kurt Erdmann (Seven
Hundred Years of Oriental Carpets, London, 1970,
pp.66-70) and Christine Klose ("Betrachtungen
zu nordwestpersischen Gartenteppichen des 18.
Jahrhunderts", HALI, vol.1, no.2, (1978), p.114) discuss
the development of the group.

This design continues to be used throughout the
18th, 19th and early 20th centuries within various
weaving capitals along the silk route with various
stylistic changes, mainly being a simplification
of the motifs. The present carpet is one of the
later examples in the development, typified by the
simplified rendering of the trees and an absence
of the pool medallions.
Although this finely woven silk carpet is unsigned,
the quality of weave, design and the intricate
patterning suggest that this carpet was produced
by one of the great masters of the Armenian
'Koum Kapi' workshops in Istanbul.

256 In addition to the hammer price, a Buyer’s Premium (plus VAT) is payable. Other taxes and/or an Artist Resale Royalty 257
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.