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Lot Essay
The present saf has nine prayer niches, each containing differing polychrome octagonal or lozenge diaper patterns or stylised, flowering trees of life, two issuing from decorative vases. The origin of the design stems from Mughal weavings of the seventeenth century (see Friedrich Spuhler, Islamic Carpets and Textiles in the Keir Collection, London, 1978, nos. 64, 65, pp.123 and 128 for example). An example of a saf from the Deccan plateau in Central India is in the collection of the Textile Museum, Washington D.C. (acc.no.R63.00.15).
Among the first Turkestan carpets of this type to come to the attention of Western scholars was that purchased by Siegfried Troll in 1905, today in the Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna. Like ours, it has nine panels displaying a wonderful variety between niches. However, the variety in that rug is concentrated in the designs in the spandrels, on ours it lies inside the niches themselves. Most unusual are the flowering vases, which grow asymmetrically in their niches.
The question of whether such Khotan carpets were actually used for prayer or rather served as decorative wall hangings is a controversial issue, as there are at least two examples known where the niches face one another, including one sold Phillips London, 11 September 1990, lot 24 and another at Lefevre London, 26 November 1982, lot 11. Two examples closely related to the present lot were sold in these Rooms from The Bernheimer Family Collection of Carpets, 14 February 1996, lot 182 and 184. A further example but with differing niche designs was sold in these Rooms, Battilossi Tappeti D'Antiquariato, 11 February 1998, lot 76.
Among the first Turkestan carpets of this type to come to the attention of Western scholars was that purchased by Siegfried Troll in 1905, today in the Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna. Like ours, it has nine panels displaying a wonderful variety between niches. However, the variety in that rug is concentrated in the designs in the spandrels, on ours it lies inside the niches themselves. Most unusual are the flowering vases, which grow asymmetrically in their niches.
The question of whether such Khotan carpets were actually used for prayer or rather served as decorative wall hangings is a controversial issue, as there are at least two examples known where the niches face one another, including one sold Phillips London, 11 September 1990, lot 24 and another at Lefevre London, 26 November 1982, lot 11. Two examples closely related to the present lot were sold in these Rooms from The Bernheimer Family Collection of Carpets, 14 February 1996, lot 182 and 184. A further example but with differing niche designs was sold in these Rooms, Battilossi Tappeti D'Antiquariato, 11 February 1998, lot 76.