CONTEXT AUCTION PRICE GUIDE

● INDIA

BESHIR TURKMEN

PRAYER RUG LATE 19TH CENTURY 1.02 x1.75M (3'4'' x5'9'')

SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK 14 DECEMBER 2006,LOT 138

EST:$8,000-12,000 SOLD FOR:$11,400

In Ralph Kaffel’s classification of Beshir prayer rugs posted on

hali.comto accompany his article in this issue, this rug, which

was last offered in the same rooms on 5 November 1983 (lot

180), is assigned to Type 2 and appears as no.2.26 in his full

listing of 56 ‘pomegranate’ design prayer rugs in which

the primary defining design feature is the broad white

ground outer mihrab filled with stylised pomegranates

hanging from branches. In contrast to the often elaborate

broad borders of Beshir main carpets, the borders of rugs in

this group are usually narrow and feature simple motifs such

as the rosettes seen here in both border and spandrels.

BESHIR TURKMEN RUG LATE 19TH CENTURY

0.97 x1.17M (3'2'' x3'10'') SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK,

VOJTECH BLAU SALE 14 DECEMBER 2006,LOT 50

EST:$5,000-7,000 SOLD FOR:$27,000

The Vojtech Blau magic resul

ted in a very strong price for this little Beshir rug, quadrup

ling what had seemed a perfectlyreasonable pre-sale estimate

for a fairly pedestrian example of a popular type. In Sotheby’s

catalogue illustration, the rug appears to be rather short on

colour, with a somewhat awkward blown-up rendition of the

normally flowing Chineseinspired ‘cloudband’, ‘dragon’

or ‘serpent’ design. Those rugs from the middle Amu Darya

region that normally command such high prices among collec

tors are typically distinguished by blazing colours, including a

clear madder red, iridescent indigo blue, pronounced green

and unfaded yellow. This had none of these attributes. For a

superlative example of the type, see Robert Pinner &

Murray Eiland Jr., Between the Black Desert and the Red: Turk

men Carpets from the Wiedersperg Collection, pl.70.

NURATA SUZANI 19TH CENTURY 1.52 x2.26M (5'0'' x7'5'')

SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK 14 DECEMBER 2006,LOT 136

EST:$7,000-10,000 SOLD FOR:$11,400

The format most associated with Nurata suzani embroider

ies with a central star-shaped medallion and flowering

bushes at each corner, is also perhaps the most familiar, with

many examples known. Nevertheless, their popularity endures,

possibly because their symmetry makes them into des

irable hangings. This example has a particularly painterly

quality, with an unusually wide variety of botanical details

including a possibly unique pair of lollipop flowers in the

main border, one yellow and the other orange.

MUGHAL ANIMAL AND PALMETTE CARPET FIRST HALF 17TH CENTURY

1.60 x3.58M (5'3'' x11'9'') SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK,

VOJTECH BLAU SALE 14 DECEMBER 2006,LOT 54

EST:$200-300,000 SOLD FOR:$385,000

The highest price we have in our records for a Mughal carpet sold

at auction, although substantially higher sums are known to have

been paid privately. There are perhaps a dozen well-known north

Indian carpets withsimilar central fields: animal combats, large

palmettes, racemes and various other floral motifs repeated

several times across the full length of the carpet as integrated

pattern units. All date to the first half of the 17th century and they

rangein quality from those which are relatively coarsely knotted

and with quite naïvely drawn animals such as the Fremlin carpet

(ca. 1640s), to what is probably the highpoint of the genre, the

dark blue-ground Illchester carpet, present whereabouts

uncertain. The Blau rug falls somewhere towards the lower

end of the gradient in terms of its knot count and drafting, but

like the V&A's Fremlin with its rare display of European coat-of

arms and initials, the unique border of the Blau animal combat

carpet demands special attention. In Sarre and Martin’s 1912 black

and white image (Die Ausstellung von Meisterwerken muhammad

anischer Kunst, Munich 1910, vol.I, T82), when the carpet's

ownership was still listed as: “Karthaus, Potsdam”, its unique configuration is mostobvious. Almost every known north Indian Mughal carpet border comprises variations of three or four basic arrange

ments. By far the most commonconsists of thin meandering stem systems supporting inward and outward facing palmettes. Less common, but still well represented, are a few Safavid-inspired thicker

meandering stems (single, double or triple) throwing off twisting volutes but still intersecting at regularly spaced large palmettes. A third type features sharply angular interlocking polychromatic

cartouches, sometimes alternating with lobed rosettes, the ‘stars and bars’ or ‘stars and crosses’ type. And of course, all these basic arrangements can be supplemented by standard Mughal carpet

motifs of animals, racemes and other floral elements, almost always against a contrasting red or dark blue ground.The border of the Vojtech Blau carpet breakswith tradition by displaying a light

(ton-sur-tonwhite and beige) ground, rounded cartouches and round rosettes. Having round rather than lobed rosettes may seem a small distinction, but they really do look different from all other

Mughal carpet borders. And the choice of a light groundcolour also appears to be rather odd. The carpet is in fairly good condition, with about the amount of pile loss one would expect in 350 years.

But some of the colours have definitely altered. The fugitive yellow which was originally used over the blue to produce green in parts of the border has faded unevenly towards the lower end, and it is

also possible that the beige in the border might originally have been darker, or possibly more red. This would have created a greater visual contrast with the central field and it would more closely

resemble standard north Indian border colours. Whether one prefers these present features is of course a matter of taste, but the Blau Mughal animal combat carpet is a unique piece and therefore

well worth the price paid.

166HALI ISSUE 151
● CHINA & XINJIANG

CONTEXT AUCTION PRICE GUIDE

MUGHAL CARPET (DETAIL) 17TH CENTURY

3.23 x8.71M (10'7'' x28'7'') SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK,

VOJTECH BLAU SALE 14 DECEMBER 2006,LOT 66

EST:$40-60,000 SOLD FOR:$168,000

Woven as one of a pair (Museu Gulbenkian, Lisbon, T.68), illus

trated by Martin (1908, fig.240), the second Blau Mughal carpet

resembles several of those still in the Jaipur Palace Collection

in 1929, all dating to the second half of the 17th century. How

ever, all the remaining Jaipur carpets with field designs incor

porating rows of flower vases are much more simply drawn,

and none of their borders even begin to approach the complex

ity or the excellent balance of the Blau example. Perhaps the

easiest way to appreciate the qualities of this enormous car

pet is to study earlier illustrations from the 1906 Journal of

Indian Art(F.H. Andrews, ‘Indian Carpets and Rugs’, vol.XI, nos.

89-94), and the 1932 Benguiat catalogue (AAA, New York, 23

April 1932, lot 23). Even in 1906 the carpet was already split and

slightly reduced at one end, but its pile was in much better con

dition. The symmetrically arranged alternating rows of vases

of flowers, cypress trees, and flowering plants rising from

rocky mounds are charming, but not especially sophisticated

compared to earlier Mughal carpet design. The relatively

low knot count and the scale of design is adequate for such

large carpets, and when new, the rich, highly saturated dyes,

especially the red ground, would have compensated for any lack

of finer detailing when the pair of carpets was spread together.

The border is even more exceptional. It is a variation of the

Mughal lozenge and rosette type, derived from earlier Safa

vid carpet borders, themselves

derived from early 15th century Timurid manuscript illumina

tion. But theBlau border differs from most of those: usually, the

lozenges and rosettes are obviously designed as elements of

repeating patterns. They have reciprocal elements above and

below, andto either side there are always additional small ‘lugs’,

indicating how those designs would connect and be repeated

had they not been cut off by the guard borders. But unlike every

other known Mughal example, e.g. Gulbenkian T-62 (probably

the most similar); ex-Morgan, MMA, New York, 17.190.858;

ex-Widener, NGA, Washington, 1942.9.475; Tokugawa Art Mus

eum, Nagoya 1-2, and so on, the sides of the rosettes of the Blau

border touch the guard borders with no other design elements

indicating that they are part of a larger repeating pattern. This

more compacted, restrained border creates a strong, highly

effective design, unknown from any other 17th century example.

DECCANI COVERLET (DETAIL) 18TH CENTURY 2.08 x2.92M (6'10'' x9'7'')

SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK, VOJTECH BLAU SALE

14 DECEMBER 2006,LOT 31 EST:$15-20,000

SOLD FOR:$24,000 These exotic silk and metal

thread embroideries in vivid floss-silks are still referred to as

Indo-Portuguese because so many have been found in Port

ugal. However, they are now thought to have come from the

Deccan, in central India, with Goa as the point of export.

SLO sold a very grand one for $30,720 on 30 April 2003, lot 4

(HALI 131, p.123),while a more modest example, with a central

medallion and stylised fan-like flowers went for $20,090) at

CSK on 13 October 2006, lot 32; HALI 150, p.134.

MING DRAGON CARPET FRAGMENT CIRCA 1600

0.86 x1.19M (2'10'' x3'11'') SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK,

VOJTECH BLAU SALE 14 DECEMBER 2006,LOT 63

EST:$8,000-12,000 SOLD FOR:$27,000

MING DRAGON CARPET FRAGMENT CIRCA 1600

1.09 x1.37M (3'7'' x4'6'') SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK,

VOJTECH BLAU SALE 14 DECEMBER 2006,LOT 64

EST:$10-15,000 SOLD FOR:$18,000

Sotheby’s Vojtech Blau sale will long be remembered for its

resounding commercial success, as well for the overall high

quality of the goods on offer, both collectable and decorative.

The consignmentof 108 lots included four Chinese and

Xinjiang carpet lots all of which were at one time owned by

the highly regarded New York collector and dealer Frank M.

Michaelian.The first two, lots 63 (top) and 64 (above), were

both substantial fragments belonging to a rare group of

early k'angcarpets, knotted in wool on cotton foundations,

which are considered to be of Chinese Imperial provenance.

Such Ming dynasty weavings are today much better known

and understood than they once were, at least since the seminal

2005 exhibition held at the Museum of East Asian Art in

Cologne, Germany (see HALI 142, pp.40-41, and HALI 144,

NINGXIA CARPET 18TH CENTURY 4.14 x4.34M (13'7'' x14'3'')

SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK, VOJTECH BLAU SALE

In addition to a wide range

of antique collectables, the late Vojtech Blau excelled in

the field of decorative carpets, and after this highly

14 DECEMBER 2006,LOT 65 EST:$40-60,000

successful sale his name will be forever associated

SOLD FOR:$78,000

with some of the best (and most expensive) examples

to havecome to the market. This superb ex-Michaelian Ningxia carpet is one such, with a lovely measured rendition of motifs

organised in a concentric scheme around a central roundel that forms a window on to a stylised view of an eccentric

landscape, a formula much appreciated in China (see, e.g., M. Franses, Classical Chinese Carpets I,London 2000, pl.10).

In later Chinese productions (from the 19th century ‘export’ carpets onwards) the designs tend to be more crudely exe

cuted and the repertoire less varied, but the present carpet shows how beautifully 'standard' schemes can be rendered.

Both the impressive main border with alternating peonies and pairs of dragons, and the deliberate asymmetry in the central

roundel, are especially noteworthy. Add to this the carpet’s good condition, and the sense of euphoria in the York Avenue

saleroom as the auction progressed, and the price is not too surprising.

pp.80-87), which included severalrelated early Chinese Imp

erial carpets and fragments. And Glanz der Himmels

soehne: Kaiserliche Teppiche aus China 1400-1750, the

outstanding, albeit German only, catalogue by Michael

Franses and Hans König that accompanied the exhibition,

also gives us a clear view of the variety of idiosyncratic tech

niques involved in their weaving, in this instance large,

chunky asymmetric knots open to the left withsome knots ins

erted diagonally. Interestingly, both the Blau-Michaelian frag

ments werepublished in 1980 in the Munich dealer Eberhart

Herrmann’s Von Konya bis Kokandcatalogue (p.187, nos.

120 & 121), in reverse order and routinely dated to the 18th

century. In any case, both are good examples, one, lot 63, an

elegant corner fragment with a ‘Greek key’ border, the other a

field section showing the back of a dragon with clouds and a

leaf-scroll border motif (lot 64). Both fragments were chosen to

illustrate the exceptionally murky front and back covers of

Sotheby’s Blau catalogue, which did them little justice, but this

did not stand in the way and both deservedly sold well

above expectations, thoughit was the rather formal and aus

tere corner that made a higher price, against a lower estimate,

than the more sinuous and lively dragon fragment.

For more auction results see www.hali.com/apg.aspx

HALI ISSUE 151167