Google tells us that "Afshan" is a Persian word,meaning to sprinkle or to smooth out.Exactly what the Russian scholar Kerimov had in mind when he thus named an important group of carpets is not clear.Perhaps it is a traditional expression in the Caucasus.However, the origins of the design are to be found in Safavid Iran.The large medallion carpets from NW Persia can be taken as a starting point.A pronounced split-leaf palmette terminates the endless coiling vines in Chris Alexander`s piece.
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| 420 |
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| 421 |
This is one of a number of carpets to feature scrolling vines with split-leaf in the field;other examples employ the split-leaf within the medallion.
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| 422 |
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| 423-Beauvais Carpets |
An outstanding carpet now in the Gulbenkian Museum (via the MAK in Vienna) is said to have once belonged to Charles V.
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| 424 |
Discussing the Schwarzenberg carpet in his notes to F.R Martin(202),C.G Ellis describes it as a 17th century Kurdistan or Khorasan carpet,with jufti knotting.It was a daring move to integrate arabesque split-leaf palmettes within the Emperor`s Carpet layout.The field is thus extremely full,heightened by an even more energetic frame.A second carpet,once with the Textile Gallery,repeats the Afshan design in the border.
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| 425 |
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| 426 |
A small fragment in the Keir Collections is perhaps part of the above.
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| 427 |
Dismissed as a later piece by the Berlin carpet authorities,the Sarre/Bode example is still a textbook rug with Split and Angular palmettes.But the vine-scrolls are thick and awkward,the border stiff and overly symmetric.
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| 428 |
Writing in Hali 104,Murray Eiland traced the Afshan design back to a carpet now existing only in fragments scattered through various collections,but this interesting variation is surely not as old as the preceeding Khorasan carpets,whence the impetus came.
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| 429 |
A large portion of this carpet is in the Keir Collection,a smaller piece in the TM,a third in an Austrian Collection.
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| 430 |
Another strange carpet with Indian and Persian features was recently auctioned at Sothebys New York where it brought $112,500.Are those traces of jufti knotting in the blue ground of the border?
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| 431 |
Two carpets which could be(and have been)mistaken for Caucasian products,are almost certainly East Persian.Probably 18th century,i.e thus making them the contemporaries of their Caucasian descendents.
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| 432 |
A carpet lately identified as Khorasan work also has a twin,once in the Istanbul market,and illustrated by Erdmann.A very fine and delicate Afshan pattern surrounded by a border of large palmette cabbages.
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| 433 |
The main body of 18th century Caucasian carpets with the Afshan design consist of a group of large,robustly made artefacts on red or blue grounds.
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| 434 |
The design of stiff palmettes,split-leaves and medallions could be extended to any size.A meander border was often favoured.
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| 435 |
Many were found in mosques,but others wandered abroad to such exotic places as Hackwood Park.
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| 436 |
The Trefoil border is default,a borrowing from the Polonaise silk rugs of a century before. The Christies item had a green ground.
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| 437 |
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| 438 |
Full of lotuses,one manufacture boasted a large-medallion border design.
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| 439 |
To our modern eyes,open and relaxed layouts are the most appealing,but this was not always so.
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| 440 |
A fragment was at Freemans in 2012.
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| 441 |
The Karagashli Göl was sometimes employed as a simple repeat.Most of these pieces were found in Turkish Mosques,but one did surface at Christies in 1985.
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| 442 |
Two carpets at the AAA in 1914 testify to an ongoing degeneration,which appears whimsical to Western eyes.
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| 443 |
An example with rare (Turkish)border was sold at Sothebys on 22 September 1993(102)
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| 444 |
Another Sothebys item(18 October 1995,227)tried out a late RGF border on a narrow field.
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| 445 |
An example in the Dixon Collection has a rare arabesque border and large medallion with arms akimbo,recalling the great Tabriz Medallion Carpets.
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| 446 |
An exciting example with rare border is in a Californian Collection.
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| 447-See Hali 104 |
Yet another variation eliminates the Karagashli Göl Medallions in favour of an elegant and sleek allover design.
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| 448-David Sorgato |
A companion carpet is known,unfortunately fragmented and dispersed.
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| 449 |
A number of other pieces are also red ground.One at the Kevorkian Sale in the sixties exhibited the simplified Bacri border.
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| 450 |
Otherwise Trefoil borders were de rigeur.
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| 451 |
A reconfigured carpet in Philadelphia seems to wail:"The end is nigh"
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| 452-McIlhenny Collection |
A tendency to excessive refinement is apparent in 19th century productions.For the large blueground Kelleh carpets the Kufi border from Holbein and Lotto fame was consciously adopted.
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| 453-Anatolian Red Ground Floral carpet:Lotto or Lotus? |
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| 455 |
The design was copied further south with a border of nesting birds-perhaps a return of the Golden Pheasants?
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| 456 |
Attempts were still made to revive the old heiratic style.
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| 457 |
Simpler versions were also available.
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| 458 |
And even runner sizes could be accommodated,as revealed by a pair which surfaced at Sothebys in 2007.
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In time numerous border variations were applied.
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| 460 |
As with the Harshang design(361 & 362)long narrow format carpets were woven with designs hollowed out from the main carpets.They seem to originate from unfathomable cross-border areas -"Karabag or Karadag".
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| 461 |
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| 462 |
A group with trellis designs(the poor man`s Spiral-Vines)prominently displays the Karagashli Göl,and the split-leaf palmettes have morphed into birds.
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| 463 |
The old trefoil border was very much en vogue but other possibilites were tried and tested.
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| 464 |
Such carpets were invariably on white/yellow or brown grounds.Noble versions with Kuba blue/black borders(again an Anatolian borrowing)have also survived.
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| 465 |
A rare group on brown/black fields has a yellow ground border which was once red and has faded,-signs of early redwood dye use.
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| 466 |
A group has been dubbed"proto-Karagashli" for obvious reasons.A piece illustrated by Kendrick-Tattershall appears missing from the V&A.The Bausback carpet is a reprise of the 18th century all-over medallion design.
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| 467 |
An elegant carpet on Persian Surmey blue was exhibited at the Pacific Collections show;but the Christies 2010 item,despite Lenkoran flair,seems new-ish,perhaps reworked somewhere?
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| 468 |
Many very nice carpets were created from the Afshan pattern.Two styles dominate:a floral,and an angular.Rare and sought after are the red ground carpets with"Lotus Pond" design,first made popular by Ulrich Schurmann.
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| 469 |
The crab-leaf border added movement and was especially useful for long rugs.
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| 470 |
A leaf and meander border was adapted from the large Kuba Kelleh.
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| 471 |
The pinwheel border was a guaranteed energiser.
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| 472 |
The "Seyshour" carpet-makers tried their hand at anything,usually with success.
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| 473 |
Soon all over the Caucasus weavers were producing this design,one of the great "hits" of the 19th century.
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| 474 |
Simpler models were also produced,not lacking in charm.
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| 475 |
A more angular style,perhaps from the area which produced the Chi-Chi carpets,also became available in the second half of the 19th century.
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| 477 |
The Caucasian rugmakers could(and did)make a prayer rug out of any design.
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| 478 |
Although the honour for the best prayer rug with Afshan design must go to a piece published by Ralph Kaffel.
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| 479-Kaffel,Prayer Rugs 44 |
All these designs passed through Kurdish territory on their way back and forth between Persia and the Caucasus.Amongst the most interesting productions of the Lake Urmia district are the"Sauj-Bulag",which combined elements of the Harshang and the Afshan designs.Such "Afshan-Harshang" rugs are very scarce.A carpet in the Burns Collection has a simple clear layout with Harshang,medallions and Split-Blossoms.
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| 480 |
A devil-may-care attitude to symmetry,exemplary materials and a Caucasian use of colour is typical of the group,named "proto-Kurdish" by Albert Levi.
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| 481 |
Some weavers wove more conventional designs,closer to the Caucasian originals.
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| 482 |
A carpet from James Burns has attained iconic status;seen here next to a piece from Dennis Dodds.
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| 483 |
And a splendid example was sold at Neumeister,Munich on 19 May 2010(45) for $56,750.
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| 484 |
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| 485-7th Century BC,Assyria |
The Pazyryk carpet with its Assyrian quatrefoils and lotus buds stands at the dawn of carpet studies like a gate through which all must pass.But the Emperor´s Carpets cast a longer shadow.The aim of this survey has been to demonstrate the omnipresence of the Lotus Palmette in carpet history.
A further investigation of the subject would include the Cairene carpets and their extensive use of palmettes;Turkish carpets and the Lotto pattern as an especially Lotus-inspired design with split-leaf Palmettes;Chinese carpets and their realistic depiction;,and of course the Turkmen carpet and its Göl forms derived from the Lotus.It would not be amiss to include textiles,from both the East and West.
