A Teheran Carpet, North Persia

with silk highlights, the upper end with yellow entablatures in each corner enclosing calligraphic inscriptions, 'Work of Ustad (Master) Amir' and 'Order of Haji Yahuda'

Sir Herbert Smith (1872-1943), 1st Baronet (1920), Witley Court, Worcestershire;
Thence by descent, to his great-granddaughter

Silk highlights to motifs, including animals, example spotted civets are all silk. Dense and even 2mm pile overall. Some minor areas of oxidisation, for example to teal colour in some of small mask motifs, in the border and main field. Minor losses to foundation in areas top right in large green palmette (oxidisation). Taupe colour on the surround oxidised in minor areas. Minor old moth damage, for example visible in the top left corner entablature yellow ground. Original overcast sides. Original flat weave ends with wool fringes. Each quadrant is the same design, and the two halves face each other with regard to orientation of the animals. Flexible handle. Overall in very good condition. Wonderful border design of exotic scrolls against a green ground, incorporating lion masks in the centre of flowerheads. Very smart carpet overall. EMBARGO ON IMPORTATION OF PERSIAN/IRANIAN WORKS OF ART TO THE USA. 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. Please check with the sale administrator if you are uncertain as to whether a lot is subject to these or any other restrictions or if you need assistance with such enquiries.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Sir Herbert Smith was a carpet manufacturer based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, a town long known for cloth manufacture and the earliest location recorded in Great Britain, of 1735, for the production of double-cloth (ingrain). James Humphries and Sons, formed in 1823, passed to Smith in 1910 who, through a series of aquisitions, expanded operations until it became one of the largest businesses in Kidderminster. In 1920 he merged with Leas Spinning Co. (Lea & Burford – a 16^thcentury cloth manufacturer) to form Carpet Trades Ltd (which  merged with Crossley's after Smith's death, eventually closing in 1990). During the First World War Smith was chairman of the Carpet Trade Rationing Committee and the Man-Power and Protection Committee and was a member of the Board of Control of the Wool and Textile Industries. For these services he was created a Baronet in the 1920 Birthday Honours. Sir Herbert purchased a number of carpets from the Middle East, some of which he displayed at his showroom in Bond Street, which was opened by Queen Mary.

From 1921 to 1938 he owned and lived at Witley Court (originally a manor house built by Thomas Foley in 1655; and now English Heritage), which partly burned down in 1937.

The cartoon for this carpet was probably  based on a book plate illustration, judging from the motifs along the axes of symmetry. Late 19th and early 20th century books on classical carpets provided a rich source of inspiration for Persian carpet weavers, as indeed they did for makers of machine made carpets, such as Sir Herbert, manufactured to satisfy the burgeoning European mass market appeal for these pieces. The design elements of this carpet are taken from one of the most complex and sophisticated groups of classical Safavid carpets, known as `The Emperor Carpets’, and which are attributed to eastern Iran, together with elements from the classical Hunting Carpets.  The Emperor Carpet group’s most distinctive design elements being refined overlaid series of arabesques, with palmettes and rosettes, together with cloud bands and pairs of birds, on a red field. In striking contrast the border which incorporates palmettes and floral devices within two intersecting arabesques and arabesques, against blue/green borders. There is variation in the incorporation of the combative animals, pairs of birds and sometimes Chinese beasts.  The entire design is balanced and interlinks through the arabesque system, but is without a fixed central axis motif.

The known existing examples of these earlier comparable and influential carpets, of similar design and colouration, are found in Museum and Private Collections. The most comparable examples are The Emperor’s Carpet, Iran, probably Herat, mid 16^th century, wool pile, (approx. 751 by 330cm), from the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York (Rogers Fund 1943, - 43.121.1), see The Islamic World, Introduction by Stuart Cary Welch,  Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1987,  pp.98-100, detail, fig. 74, which has the characteristic animal motifs, on a red madder ground, and use of dragon and lion heads within the design of the exuberant scrolls in the blue/green border, which inspired those used in the offered carpet. The companion piece to this cited 16^th century carpet is in Vienna (Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst), see Edwards, A. Cecil, The Persian Carpet, Duckworth, 1975, No.4. pp.13 &15. Both these examples, do not have main central motifs.  Another comparable design, with elements seen in the present carpet, is that of a group of well established tradition of hunting designs, without hunters, and a specific example of a floral and hunting rug from the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge (see McMullan, Joseph, Islamic Carpets, Near Eastern Art Research Center, New York, 1965, No.15, pp.76-77). Comparable as the design has palmettes, a single arabesque system, single motifs of animals, against a red ground, and delicate double scroll and complementary palmettes in the border, and most notably is against an emerald green ground, similar to that of the offered carpet. Other examples of this type are found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Cochran rug, Acc. No. 08.100), and from the Fletcher Collection (Acc.No.17.120.27), are from the same group, with a marked central medallion representing a garden pavilion. 

 

EMBARGO ON IMPORTATION OF PERSIAN/IRANIAN WORKS OF ART TO THE USA.
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.

Please check with the sale administrator if you are uncertain as to whether a lot is subject to these or any other restrictions or if you need assistance with such enquiries.