An Azerbaijan pictorial silk embroidered mihrab panel, South Caucasus

worked in satin stitch and stem stitch, with calligraphic inscriptions reading work of the slave Haji Mirza Hossein Kashi in the right cartouche and partially illegible inscription reading the picture of Sultan Hossein... in the left cartouche

B. C. Holland, Chicago
Raymond Benardout, London

Harris, Nathaniel, Rugs and Carpets of the Orient, London: Hamlyn, 1977, dust jacket

Silk embroidery on a black and white gingham cotton ground. Small scattered losses to embroidery where ground is visible. Scattered spot stains. Some dark browns oxidized with some restiching. Stretched and mounted on linen.
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This intriguing pictorial embroidery shows the influence of Safavid Persian designs in the region more than any of the other embroideries in the Chesrow collection.  The rendering of the seated figures in a landscape of cypress trees and flowering branches appears to follow in the tradition of the embroidered Safavid coat in the Vienna Museum für angewandte Kunst, see Jennifer Wearden, "A Synthesis of Contrasts," Hali, issue 59, fig. 8, p. 106.  This embroidered coat, although customarily attributed to Kashan, circa 1600, appears to be related in design, color and technique to two pictorial embroideries in the Victoria and Albert Museum, ibid., figs. 9 and 10, p. 107 that are accepted as Azerbaijan in origin.  Wearden therefore suggests that the Vienna coat may be attributed to Azerbaijan rather than Persia.  The figures in the pictorial embroideries and coat are drawn in a very Safavid manner, most directly in the style of those on the Esterházy appliqué cover in the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest, see Hali, issue 168, p. 114 and Jon Thompson and Sheila R. Canby, Hunt for Paradise, New York, 2003, no. 12-17, pp. 294-5.  In the current example, and related Azerbaijan works, the figures are more stylized and the dark brown/black ground is very similar to that of the geometric design pieces. The present embroidery has reciprocal guard borders and checked guard stripes, as well as coloring and format, that are very similar to a prayer panel sold Christie's London, April 6, 2006, lot 107.  While clearly related, the present embroidery is larger in scale with its design having more figures, cypress trees and the highly unusual addition of the central figure riding in an elaborate howdah on an elephant.    Other related figural pieces include the roundel in the Kuwait National Museum, see Marilyn Jenkins, Islamic Art in the Kuwait National Museum, London, 1983, p. 154 and a small embroidery sold Sotheby's New York, December 10, 1992, lot 7.