A SILK AND METAL-THREAD ‘POLONAISE’ RUG Isfahan, Central Persia, early 17th century 7 ft.11 in. x 4 ft.4 in. (241 cm. x 132 cm.) £150,000-250,000

OrientalRugsandCarpets King Street,16April 2007

Auction 16 April 2007

Viewing 11-15 April

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CONTEXT AUCTION PRICE GUIDE

CENTRAL ANATOLIAN RUG CIRCA 1800 1.57 x2.87M (5'2'' x9'5'')

SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK, VOJTECH BLAU SALE

14 DECEMBER 2006,LOT 26 EST:$10-15,000

SOLD FOR:$13,200 The design is commonly named

after a rug in a mid-15th century painting by Domenico Ghirlan

daio. There are no surviving rugs exactly likethe original but quite

a few ‘village’ descendants,

mostly late 18th or 19th century. There are very few from the

intermediate period. Design elements are shared with large

pattern Holbeins, but with diamond-shaped medallions

instead of octagons in rectangles. Most of the later rugs

(e.g. Brüggemann & Böhmer, Rugs of the Peasants and

Nomads of Anatolia, no.52; McMullan, Islamic Carpets,

no.97; Denny, Anatolian Carpets, no.17) are almost square,

but one in a longer format with an archaic border design is in

Volkmann, Old Eastern Carpets 2, no.18, a rug almost duplica

ted by one in the Bernheimer Sale (CLO, 14 February 1996, lot

110, £45,500) dated to the 17th century. The Blau rug has an

unusual border, a distant variant of the ragged palmette,

which can only be found on a so-called (wrongly) ‘Bellini’ rug

in the Kirchheim Collection (OS, no.158, p.234), optimistic

ally dated to the 16th century. So do we have a 17th century

rug here? Perhaps, but only if

its colours are better than those seen in the catalogue or on Soth

eby’s website. An early 19th century rug with leaf and calyx

border sold at PLO for $17,325 (12 October 1999, lot 134, see

HALI 108, p.122, citing several other similar examples including

two with Lefevre in the 1970s.)

SOUTHWEST ANATOLIAN

MEDALLION RUG CIRCA 1800 1.12 x1.27M (3'8'' x4'2'')

SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK 14 DECEMBER 2006,LOT 129

EST:$5,000-7,000 SOLD FOR:$12,000

Unsold at RB on 15 May 2005,

lot 59, against an 17,500 estimate. Since then this small rug has

had its endsrewoven to match its previously rewoven sides. It

is an unusual example, with the suggestion of a re-entrant motif

piled in blue on a red field. Based on its border system – the mean

dering vine outer stripe and flowerhead main border– we

would prefer to assign it to Dazkırı in the Menderes River Valley

in southwestern Anatolia (see Morehouse, HALI 121, pp.101

107) rather than to Ushak, and also to closer to 1800 than the

auctioneers’ circa 1700, mainly due to the drawing of the central

medallion and the dates given to other typical Dazkırı rugs with

identical border systems, including: Morehouse, p.107 = SLO,

23 April 1997, lot 48; RB, 28 March 1992, lot 25 and 18 Nov

ember 2006, lot 123; Lefevre, 15 February 1980, lot 37; SNY,

4 June 1988, lot 83; CNY, 8 April 1989, lot 76 = Battilossi 4, pl.4;

CLO, 26 November 1987, lot 18; and SLO, 29 April 1998, lot 39.

EAST ANATOLIAN CARPET LATE 18TH CENTURY

Rugs of this type, attributed to east Anatolia or the southern

1.6 x2.79M (5'3'' x9'2'') CHRISTIE'S NEW YORK

Caucasus, have a limited auction track record. A red

12 DECEMBER 2006,LOT 66 EST:$15-25,000

ground cartouche-bordered fragment,(perhaps woven

SOLD FOR:$62,400

as a divan cover) made £9,200 ($14,168) at CLO’s

Bernheimer sale on 14 February 1996, lot 37, and was later resold for £4,182 on 29 April 2004. Two complete rugs with cartouche

borders, classified as Yürük (east Anatolia) were sold by Lefevre (21 May 1976, lot 58, £2,600, and 26 November 1976, lot 42, £1,300).

Lefevre also sold a third, a much-published blue-ground variant with a reciprocal trefoil border,on 4 March 1983 (lot 27) for £5,600,

attributed to south Caucasus. It later appeared in Old Eastern Carpets 2, pl.65, and in Orient Stars, pl.82, attributed to “Northwest

Persia or surrounding regions”, as was another well-known redground variant (OS, pl.83), previously published in Walker’s Oriental

Rugs of the Hajji Babas, pl.10, attributed to the Erzurum area, as it was in Dr William Price’s Divine Images and Magic Carpets,pl.32,

and on the cover of HALI 4/4. A cartouche-bordered rug, similar to the present lot and to Lefevre’s lot 42,was shownat ACOR 6 in

Indianapolis in April 2002 described as an Armenian Kazak (HALI 123, p.93). Others include Schürmann, Oriental Carpets,

p.193,with a boxy Ladik-type border, anda catch-all “Armenian with a mixture of Caucasian and Persian motifs” label; Yetkin,

Early Caucasian Carpets in Turkey, pl.102 (= OCTS I, p.85, east Anatolia); Yetkin, pl.101, a red-ground fragment missing its borders;

and the Austrian Society’s Textil-Kunst-Feuer, 1999, pl.31, with a Ladik-type rosette and tulip border. The present lot was the second

example belonging to Dr Price (Divine Images...pl.44). Most of the cited rugs were dated to the 18th century. There is a clear relation

ship between this group and an 18th century Azerbaijan carpet, ex-Bausback (HALI 61),ex-Ritman Collection, sold at SLOon

18 October 1995 (lot 85).

KONYA PRAYER RUG EARLY 19TH CENTURY

1.17 x1.4M (3'10'' x4'7'') SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK,

VOJTECH BLAU SALE 14 DECEMBER 2006,LOT 53

EST:$10-15,000 SOLD FOR:$42,000

This coupled-column Konya village prayer rug set an auction

record for its type. No similar rug had previously surpassed

the $20,000 plateau at auction; highest prices being $14,300 for

lot 264 at Edelmann on 24 October 1981 (= Herrmann, SOT IV,

no.5, retail DM57,000) and $15,400 for lot 39 at SNY on 18

May 1985. Related examples include HALI 2/2, p.103 (Peretz

Collection, London); Macey, Prayer Rugs, pl.28 and a rug

from the Manilow Collection sold for a bargain $4,400 at SNY

on 7 April 1992 (lot 19). The yellow border of the present rug

is a typical Ladik design of flowerheads alternating with

geometric lillies. For a similar border on a ‘Ghirlandaio’ rug

see Denny,The Classical Tradition, pl.18.

MELAS PRAYER RUG LATE 19TH CENTURY 1.12 x1.65M (3'8'' x5'5'')

SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK 14 DECEMBER 2006,LOT 132

EST:$7,000-10,000 SOLD FOR:$14,400

HALI ISSUE 151161