.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The two large green cartouches translate as: 'During the time of Nasir al-Din Shah, whose palace is like Heaven and his portico like Saturn, Husayn wove the patterns of this carpet for His excellent throne, in Kirman'.
The date has been changed to read 1186 from the 1286 that was originally woven.
The design of this carpet was very much in fashion in various media in the mid 19th century. A very close example can be found in the tilework of the Vakil mosque in Shiraz which was clad in tiles in the 1830s (Gérard Degeorge and Yves Porter, The Art of the Islamic Tile, Paris, 2001, p.165). Both compositions depend on an overall lattice of oval cartouches filled with dense arrangements of flowers. This type of design is to be found much more predominantly in the south of the country than in the region of Tehran. It is very appropriate that this was what was chosen as the composition for such an important comission from Kirman.
The inscription does not define in which palace the carpet was intended to be used. It was probably intended for the capital, Tehran. Whether it was ever used in the Golestan Palace or whether it was intended for a different location we cannot be sure. In the 1977 catalogue of carpets from the carpet museum in Tehran, many of which had come from the Golestan palace, there is nothing of the scale of the present carpet, nor indeed is there any carpet dedicated to any Shah before one made for Muzaffar al-Din Shah in 1319/1901 (Siyawosch Azadi, Persian carpets, Tehran, 1977).
This is a magnificent Qajar royal carpet that has survived in remarkable condition.
The date has been changed to read 1186 from the 1286 that was originally woven.
The design of this carpet was very much in fashion in various media in the mid 19th century. A very close example can be found in the tilework of the Vakil mosque in Shiraz which was clad in tiles in the 1830s (Gérard Degeorge and Yves Porter, The Art of the Islamic Tile, Paris, 2001, p.165). Both compositions depend on an overall lattice of oval cartouches filled with dense arrangements of flowers. This type of design is to be found much more predominantly in the south of the country than in the region of Tehran. It is very appropriate that this was what was chosen as the composition for such an important comission from Kirman.
The inscription does not define in which palace the carpet was intended to be used. It was probably intended for the capital, Tehran. Whether it was ever used in the Golestan Palace or whether it was intended for a different location we cannot be sure. In the 1977 catalogue of carpets from the carpet museum in Tehran, many of which had come from the Golestan palace, there is nothing of the scale of the present carpet, nor indeed is there any carpet dedicated to any Shah before one made for Muzaffar al-Din Shah in 1319/1901 (Siyawosch Azadi, Persian carpets, Tehran, 1977).
This is a magnificent Qajar royal carpet that has survived in remarkable condition.