A Northwest Persian fragmentary rug, 18th Century

Please note that this is a rug of Iranian Origin, and due to recent changes in the U.S. law, carpets and rugs of Iranian/Persian origin can no longer be imported into the U.S.

Christie's London, May 3, 2001, lot 120

This carpet relates to a small group of 18th century carpets which have been attributed to both North West Persia and to the Caucasus. For an overview of the genre, see 'Animal and Tree Carpets An Amorphous Group', Bennett. I., Hali, 1994, Issue 73, pp. 90-99 and Appendix pp.111-112.  Bennett identifies 19 related rugs, and groups these rugs loosely, primarily according to design features, into 7 sub-groups. Generally, it is assumed that they derive their designs from early Safavid carpets, and certainly that appears to be the source for the majority.  However, for this example, which is not included in the examples provided by Bennett, a Safavid silk textile seems more likely, with its directional repeating design of two registers of standing figures with hawks interspersed with youths seated cross-legged, (who in the original textile would probably have been holding wine cups), flanked by stylised plane trees and flowering bushes.  The Durlacher and McMullan carpets, fig.11, p.112 (Appendix) and fig 4, p.97, Bennett, op.cit., also include repeating registers of mounted and seated figures flanked by trees, and may also derive their designs from textiles rather than carpets.