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Lot Essay
The knot count is approximately
The circular inscription cartouche in the upper border reads:
Farmayesh-e Sardar Mohtasham Bakhtiari ayalat Kirman wa Belouchistan
Ordered by Sardar Mohtasham Bakhtiari, province (Governor) of Kirman and Balouchistan
The inscription cartouche on the plinth reads:
Safaresh-e Muhammad Raza Khan az-e karkhane Ustad 'Ali Kirmani
Commissioned by Muhammad Reza Khan from the Workshop of 'Ali Kirmani
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was fashionable in Iran to have Kirman carpets with designs taken from European sources. The design of this carpet was based on a Louis XIV Gobelins tapestry from the series 'Les Sujets de la Fable' after the drawings by Raphael (1483-1520). Woven on three separate occasions for Louis XIV, between 1686 and 1704, the scene depicts 'La Danse d'une nymphe, de la droite' showing Pomona with Vertumnus in the guise of a faun, playing the pipes of the fertility god, Pan, and seated next to a plinth supporting a vase with festive putti overhead all in a verdant landscape evoking Arcadia, the idyllic home of Pan. For a Louis XIV Gobelins tapestry of this cartoon, see The Collection Akram Ojjeh, Christie’s Monaco, 11th -12th December 1999, lot 150.
A copy of this tapestry hung in the Public Rooms of Nasir al'Din Shah Qajar (1848-1898) at the Golestan Palace in Tehran. This tapestry was surely the inspiration for the series of Kirman carpets using this design in a variety of sizes. The closest comparable to our example is in a private collection in Lebanon. Of the same large size and direction of design, it was woven for Khosrow Khan Bakhtiari, Sardar Zafar, who was governor of the province of Kerman and Baluchistan and a distant cousin to Sardar Mohtasham Bakhtiari who commissioned our carpet.
Other similar examples with the same design, yet mirrored and smaller, were sold at Christie's London, 19 April 2016, lot 58 and 29 April 2004, lot 50. There is also another example of this design in the Tehran Carpet Museum, No. 111.
According to the inscription in the border, this carpet was ordered by Ghulam Husayn Khan(1866?-1950), whose titles were first Sehab-al-Saltana and then Sardar Mohtasham, and was one of the few Bakhtiari chiefs who played a national role after the Constitutional revolution in 1909. He was the sixth son of Emāmqoli Khan, known as Haji Ilkhani, founder of the younger branch of the Haft Lang, whose chiefs were titled great khans. After seven years in the service of Moḥammad Shah while still a prince, he was twice ilbegi and twice ilkani of the Bakhtiari tribe between 1905 and 1921, and occupied a government position in 1911-13, when the government was dominated by the Bakhtiari chiefs. He was one of the few members of his family who was not arrested and executed in 1933. He died in Tehran in 1950 and is remembered as a pensive, courageous and extremely honest man (Encyclopedia Iranica, Vol. III, New York, Fasc. 5, pp. 543-551).
The lot offered here is outstanding for its state of preservation and the quality of the weave, the wool and its rich and vibrant color.
The circular inscription cartouche in the upper border reads:
Farmayesh-e Sardar Mohtasham Bakhtiari ayalat Kirman wa Belouchistan
Ordered by Sardar Mohtasham Bakhtiari, province (Governor) of Kirman and Balouchistan
The inscription cartouche on the plinth reads:
Safaresh-e Muhammad Raza Khan az-e karkhane Ustad 'Ali Kirmani
Commissioned by Muhammad Reza Khan from the Workshop of 'Ali Kirmani
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was fashionable in Iran to have Kirman carpets with designs taken from European sources. The design of this carpet was based on a Louis XIV Gobelins tapestry from the series 'Les Sujets de la Fable' after the drawings by Raphael (1483-1520). Woven on three separate occasions for Louis XIV, between 1686 and 1704, the scene depicts 'La Danse d'une nymphe, de la droite' showing Pomona with Vertumnus in the guise of a faun, playing the pipes of the fertility god, Pan, and seated next to a plinth supporting a vase with festive putti overhead all in a verdant landscape evoking Arcadia, the idyllic home of Pan. For a Louis XIV Gobelins tapestry of this cartoon, see The Collection Akram Ojjeh, Christie’s Monaco, 11th -12th December 1999, lot 150.
A copy of this tapestry hung in the Public Rooms of Nasir al'Din Shah Qajar (1848-1898) at the Golestan Palace in Tehran. This tapestry was surely the inspiration for the series of Kirman carpets using this design in a variety of sizes. The closest comparable to our example is in a private collection in Lebanon. Of the same large size and direction of design, it was woven for Khosrow Khan Bakhtiari, Sardar Zafar, who was governor of the province of Kerman and Baluchistan and a distant cousin to Sardar Mohtasham Bakhtiari who commissioned our carpet.
Other similar examples with the same design, yet mirrored and smaller, were sold at Christie's London, 19 April 2016, lot 58 and 29 April 2004, lot 50. There is also another example of this design in the Tehran Carpet Museum, No. 111.
According to the inscription in the border, this carpet was ordered by Ghulam Husayn Khan(1866?-1950), whose titles were first Sehab-al-Saltana and then Sardar Mohtasham, and was one of the few Bakhtiari chiefs who played a national role after the Constitutional revolution in 1909. He was the sixth son of Emāmqoli Khan, known as Haji Ilkhani, founder of the younger branch of the Haft Lang, whose chiefs were titled great khans. After seven years in the service of Moḥammad Shah while still a prince, he was twice ilbegi and twice ilkani of the Bakhtiari tribe between 1905 and 1921, and occupied a government position in 1911-13, when the government was dominated by the Bakhtiari chiefs. He was one of the few members of his family who was not arrested and executed in 1933. He died in Tehran in 1950 and is remembered as a pensive, courageous and extremely honest man (Encyclopedia Iranica, Vol. III, New York, Fasc. 5, pp. 543-551).
The lot offered here is outstanding for its state of preservation and the quality of the weave, the wool and its rich and vibrant color.