EAST TURKESTAN, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

The design of the present carpet appears unusually close to the original Isfahan Indian in-and-out-palmette design. The rhythm of the composition with the paired serrated leafs flanking a flowerhead is very similar, particularly when compared with a carpet from Kashmir in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (Daniel Walker: Flowers underfoot. Indian Carpets of the Mughal Era, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1997, pp.84-85). The border pattern is inspired ultimately by the Indian Millefleurs design. This is also a typical field design in Khotan carpets as can be seen in lot 258 in this sale. An excerpt written by an 18th century contemporary, published by Hans Bidder records that, "... In the Turki city of Kashgar there live in great luxury many courtesans, ... there are also other more respectable people who excel in the weaving of silk carpets embroidered in gold and silver, and of five-coloured pile carpets". (Bidder, Hans: Carpets from East Turkestan, Tübingen, 1964, op.cit., p. 24)