Early Ghiordes Prayer Rug

162 x 117 cm (5' 4" x 3' 10") Turkey, ca. 1700 Condition: good for its age, low pile in places, some small old repairs, both ends slightly damaged Warp: wool, weft: wool, pile: wool Turkish prayer rugs featuring depictions of columns document an unbroken tradition of artistic creation spanning centuries. Ranging from Ottoman court art to nomadic and village-made pieces, they date from the 16th to the 20th century. One of the "great-grandfathers" of this type is housed in the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin, Inv. No. KGM 1889,156 (Ionescu, "The Transylvanian Heritage," p. 209). The first striking difference is that the horseshoe-shaped mihrab has given way to a gable motif. A panel above it can be seen on the same side of another carpet, which also dates from the 16th century. The design's further development then led to the so-called Transylvanian column prayer rugs and ultimately to the coveted Ghiordes pieces. The densely patterned border featuring palmettes, sickle-shaped leaves, and rosettes, as well as the consistent use of red weft threads, identifies our carpet as a Basra Ghiordes. This has nothing to do with the Iraqi port city but is simply a common trade name used to designate this subgroup. In contrast to the courtly pieces, Transylvanian carpets and Ghiordes works feature, in addition to palmettes, an increasing number of secondary motifs such as vases and bouquets. The beautiful large flowers along the lower edge of our carpet are quite unusual. Some comparable examples can be found in Grote-Hasenbalg, Volume 2, Plate 9; Zipper, "Anatolian Carpets," No. 39; and Aslanapa, "One Thousand Years of Turkish Carpets," Plate 134. A comparable rug, though with a light-colored border, sold at Christie's on October 9, 2006, for £22,800. A specimen very similar to ours was offered at Sotheby's on November 27, 2019, as Lot 81, and also features the beautiful roses in the upper panel. Estimate: € 15000 - 20000 Starting bid: € 10000

Estimate:£12,783.52

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