Page 270 - ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND INDIAN WORLDS Carpets, Ceramics Objects, Christie's London Oct..27, 2022

■ 259
A KHORASAN KELLEH
NORTH EAST PERSIA, EARLY 19TH
CENTURY
Extensive areas of repair and repiling, sides and
ends secured
16ft.10in. x 7ft.8in. (512cm. X 234cm.)
£7,000-9,000 US$8,200-11,000
€8,100-10,000

PROVENANCE:
Otto Bernheimer, acquired 9th August 1937, as a
'Herat'
The Bernheimer Family Collection of Carpets,
Christie's, London, 14 February 1996, lot 4
In Persia from the middle of the 18th century
and through the first half of the 19th, carpets
with overall designs were hugely popular, at the
expense of centralised or more complex animal
designs. This is very clearly shown in surviving
paintings from the post-Safavid period where
almost every carpet depicted is a kelleh with
overall floral lattice of one sort or another (see
for example Layla S.Diba and Maryam Ekhtiar,
Royal Persian Paintings, the Qajar Epoch, New
York, 1999, nos.26-28, 31, 47 and 57). Some of
the designs in paintings are recognisable but
most are generic, and most represent carpets of
Afshan, Harshang, Herati and related patterns.
There is not enough visual information depicted
to enable us to tie up surviving carpets with those
in the paintings. For this reason a small number
of Khorasan carpets with inscription cartouches
containing verses almost hidden within the
field, at least two of which have credible dates
of 1218/1803-4 and 1223/1808-9 are very
important to our understanding (The Bernheimer
Family Collection of Carpets, Christie's London,
14 February 1996, lot 60; Arthur Upham Pope,
258 A Survey of Persian Art, Oxford, 1938, pl.1272A).
While each of those have a harshang design field,
in most other respects they are very similar to
257
the present carpet. The wool and colours are very
256
similar both in the field and the border, while the
guard stripes are virtually identical.
■*256 ■*257 ■*258
A SARAB RUNNER A SARAB RUNNER A BAKSHAISH RUNNER
WEST PERSIA, CIRCA 1890 WEST PERSIA, CIRCA 1880 WEST PERSIA, CIRCA 1900
Light localised wear with some minor repairs, Overall excellent condition Overall excellent condition
overall good condition 17ft. 10in. x 3ft.6in. (544cm. x 107cm.) 14ft.3in. x 2ft.8in. (435cm. x 82cm.)
18ft.8in. x 3ft.3in. (570cm. x 99cm.)
£3,500-5,000 US$4,100-5,800 £3,000-5,000 US$3,500-5,800
£3,000-4,000 US$3,600-4,700 €4,100-5,800 €3,500-5,800
€3,500-4,600

268 In addition to the hammer price, a Buyer’s Premium (plus VAT) is payable. Other taxes and/or an Artist Resale Royalty 269
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.