Lineage III : India and Khorasan

After the disintegration of the Safavid carpet tradition in the 18th century,the RGF design split into three different styles:a group with predominantly Palmette design;another with Palmette and adjuncts,called the “Harshang”,or crab design;and a repeat design  of split-leaf arabesques,named “Afshan”,elements of which had already appeared in early 17th century Persian carpets.These borrowings had presumably occurred before the downfall of the Safavid Dynasty;but by the 18th century they were in full swing.A small group of Indian carpets employs the Harshang design,but its origins likely lay in Khorasan.

The “Trinitarias “ Group,named after a carpet now in Australia,originally descends from a grand Persian carpet in the Bardini Museum,Florence.

250-Bardini Museum 730/456

250a-Terborch,c.1675

This carpet has been dated by some authorities to as early as 1500,due apparently,to its circular medallion.Murray Eiland demolishes this line of thought in Ghereh 21/42.The field design is basically that of a middle-period RGF,already showing signs of simplification.The border is a standard in the Tabriz(?) Medallion repertoire,but a superior example was once in the McMullan Collection.Its gigantic sidewinders reveal to what lengths cloudbands can go.

251

Nevertheless the field of the Bardini carpet had a great deal of influence in the North-West Persian Zone of the 18th Century.

252-C.John

Next in the chain of command is another medallion carpet in the Musee des Arts decoratifs,Paris.

253-von Scala 1908

254-Pope  

The Paris and Florence carpets are roughly the same size,but the Paris carpet appears more packed in the vertical.The border has changed to a cartouche type,with round and oblong shapes connected by Astragals. 

The Trintarias carpet is the largest of all,weighing in at a mighty 1044 x 336 cms.It represents a further simplification,and on this piece real Harshang forms appear to have mutated out of the flaming palmettes on the other carpets.

255

256

The palmettes have become larger and more frequent in the field.Note the corner solution at the beginning-identical to that in the Bardini.

257-The Trinitarias Carpet

Another piece in the Burrell Collection features even more prominent Harshang palmettes.

258

259

A fragment published by Pope from the Collection of Edith McCormick Rockefeller(of Emperor`s Carpet fame)employs the same border as the Paris/Auckland carpets,but also introduces animal depictions.Pope does not describe the piece in his text,but it clearly belongs to the Trinitarias Group.

260

After a journey to Istanbul in 1964,Ulrich Schurmann wrote a report for Weltkunst in which he described a NW Persian carpet seen at the Turk ve Islam, attributed to Azerbaijan.It is large,but simpler in design than the preceeding examples.

261-Weltkunst

A fragment in the Burrell Collection is perhaps from the same group,although it has corner medallions in the field.The Harshangs lay horizontally in the field and are very mature.Perhaps it is Khorasan work.

262-Burrell

A number of examples exist which are obviously simplified copies,from the area known in rug-circles as the"Golden Triangle"One such was sold at Christies in 1998.

263-Christies 15 October 1998(301)

Even an embroidery with this pattern is known.

264-Petsopoulos,Tulips,130

A fragment published by the TKF shows impending horizontal Harshang Palmettes on what is said to be an Indian carpet;no tech info is available.

A carpet in Coimbra in standard Indian garb depicts palmettes at 90 degrees and   upright jewel in the Lotus.

265-TKF

266-Coimbra

No review would be complete without examples from the Deccan,those poor cousins of Lahore.

267-Japanese Collections

The author has deliberately avoided the contentious issue of "Persia or India"for the mass of apparently later RGFs.More important seems to be"17th or 19th Century",in the face of a number of excellent later reproductions.One carpet in Berlin springs to mind,which was discovered to be 19th century after dye analysis.

268

Mr.Perez could still remember the ustad of this carpet,said to have been alive in 1953.

269-Perez

270-Reverse side of two Khorasan carpets

Herat,the capital of the Timurid Empire and of Khorasan,has now fallen into disfavour as a carpet-weaving location,but it is far too important historically to dismiss.It was the artistic and administrative capital of the Timurids until 1507.Surely such a centre would have produced the most exclusive and luxurious carpets?That was at least the thinking behind the earliest carpet attributions.The following selection of carpets with Harshang design may or may not have originated in Greater Khorasan.Otherwise they should be described as “East Persian”Many of them include extensive Jufti-Knotting,said by Cecil Edwards to have been a characteristic of Persian Khorasan weaving.Combined with a two-shoot weft structure,this leads to a floppier weave and more painterly style.Edwards considered the Jufti knot to be a fraudulent technique.It seems to have been employed in large areas of plain field,but it is actually a method of drawing fine contours,used even in China.It should be further noted that Edward`s drawings of Persian and Jufti knots are incorrect.The designs were later copied in North West Persia by a process of design osmosis,till now not quite understood.

What appears to be the earliest Persian rug with Harshang design and a drop repeat from an RGF  is an august gentleman once with Duveen and then Yves Mikaeloff,twice auctioned and reviewed by Hali,and even including"fat parrots" in its field design.

271

Initially ascribing this carpet to Isfahan in their 1988,review,Hali`s hardy editorial team backpedaled to a Khorasan attribution(Hali 40-80+96-141)The Harshangs are lain out vertically,but the whole is more relaxed than the Trinitarias group,perhaps due to the jufti knottting and 2 ply blue weft.


Almost eight metres long and with 2 ply weft and jufti pile,the next example in Vienna has a field with 2/3 re-knotting:the rest is worn away.Attributed by Angela Völker to the 17th century.

272

Two fragments from a single carpet have emerged in the past few years,quite similar to the MAK carpet.They both employ elements borrowed from Vase carpets,and with elegant chi forms and palmettes.The first piece appeared at Cheflins in 2009 and was sold for $22,050.Now in Milan.

273

The second fragment was sold at Sothebys in 2014 for $37,500.

274-montage

A comparable Vase Carpet fragment is in the MET,ex-Ballard

275-MET 22.100.68

Continuing on from the Mikaeloff rug,the following was at Christies and Freeman`s with a stopover at Peter Pap.It sports the old curved Saz border.Illustrated next to a Kuba area carpet sold twice at Sothebys in 1990 and 1992.

276

Worn but distinguished by a yellow ground border.

277-Christies 25 April 2002(74)

Published by Grote-Hasenbalg in 1922,the next item is adorned with in and out palmettes,Harshang,and a nascent Afshan design,underpinned with lozenge trellis pattern-the last remnants of the spiral vine.

278

The Toms carpet was an exercise in decorum with arabesque ragged palmette border.

279-Toms sale 2

A distinguished group of Kelleh feature Nastaliq inscriptions and are frequently dated.http://www.rugtracker.com/2014/09/on-origin-of-herati-pattern.html

280-Published Pope-dated 1808

An interesting blue ground variant appeared at Christies in 2014.

281

Finally,some comparisons between Khorasan and West Persia and the Caucasus.

282-Left: Khorasan.Right:Kuba area.

283-Left:Khorasan(note Bardini-style corner solution).Right:NW Persia.

A carpet fragment sold at Rippon Boswell`s on 28 May 2011(75)for  3294€ was described as hailing from Azerbaijan,although the border has a distinct Khorasan flavour.

284

A wonderful fragment in the Baranowicz Collection has fully-fledged Harshang palmettes and a minor border filled with Armenian inscription

285

Possibly from Khorasan are some border fragments in the Museum of Ethnography,Konya.

286

A fragment published by Daniel Walker in Hali 149(76)bears a Lotus design of arresting beauty.

287

Nagel`s fragment  on a rigid lattice groundwork is a possible candidate.A second fragment is in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

288

But we are on solid ground with an item from the James Burns Collection,published in Visions of Nature,where a small white tree is becoming Harshang.

289