A silk Heriz carpet, north west Persia, late 19th century

The weaver of this finely drawn example has created a lattice around each of the floral stems with the central four cartouches on an ivory ground to centre the design. Comparably arranged silk Heriz carpets with a lattice field include an example sold at Christie’s, London 10 April 2008, lot 197 and another based on the design of Kirman vase carpets sold at Christie’s, London, 29 April 2004, lot 115. The drawing of the present carpet is particularly elegant with a freer rendering of the curvilinear lattice, enlivened by the touches of azure-blue in the flowers and the light peach border.