A group of 18th Century Caucasian Lotus-Palmette Carpets

This post was triggered by David Sorgato`s publication on Facebook,19th March 2014,of a carpet once in the possession of John Eskenazi, advertised in Hali 6,Nr 3,page 47.The carpet had previously appeared at Sothebys Islamic sale on 13 October 1982(Lot 51).

1-Eskenazi-Hali  1984

A similar carpet is in the Keir Collection(Spuhler 1978) A further fragment may be from  one of the two pieces and was published in a Carpet Exhibition in Delft(Het Prinsenhof) in 1949.It later entered the Collection of Jan Timmerman,who is seen displaying it here.

2-Keir Collection 57

3-Delft 1949

4-Jan Timmerman

A further fragment was offered at the AAA Sale of 8 January 1932(55)

5-AAA 1932

A later solitary survivor was once in the James Burns Collection.The split arabesque forks have developed into the birds seen on later 19th century Caucasian rugs(for instance,in the “Karagashli” group)

6-Burns

The group is a sidestep from the main group of Avshan-Harshang design carpets,lacking in medallion forms.The Keir carpet,and presumably the Sorgato-Timmerman pieces are on a cotton warp with red(?)woolen wefts,biasing them geographically toward NW Persia. On the whole the designs were developed in 16th century Persia,with the “Red Ground Floral(RGF) Carpets”