An Agra pictorial carpet, Northwest India

Pile ranges from approximately 1/10th of an inch in areas of field and border to low to knotheads and spot foundation in oxidized areas. Most of field with pictorial design is with good pile, generally the highest in the carpet. Some very minor visible warp ties in field. Most spot foundation is visible in oxidized dark blue areas. Some foldwear among which the most visible are vertical into lower end, not extensive. Doesn't show signs of heavy foot traffic which, coupled with the hanging rings on top, indicates the carpet has been carefully hung on the wall, thus preserving the pile of the field. Original upper end folded in and sewn down. Lower end with fraying and losses to flatwoven finish. Lower end border is generally with more wear. Sides overcast, now with some losses and fraying. Very supple handle, woven horizontally, good pile in non-oxidized areas. Fresh well perserved colors, detailed naturalistic design and in overall good condition for age. Highly attractive lot.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

With the defeat of Ibrahim Shah Lodi, the last ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, in 1526 at the battle of Panipat by the Timurid prince Babur, the Mughal Empire was founded and a new era in the history of the Indian subcontinent began. The new ruling class introduced a wide range of innovations derived from Safavid Persian art. Unquestionably, one the most significant of them all was the establishment of an enduring and well-functioning carpet-weaving industry that produced outstanding textiles which became an essential component of the arts of India for centuries to come. The early weavers of Indian carpets were strongly influenced by Persian models and regularly turned to Safavid examples to create their own weavings. The adaptation, or often direct replication, of Persian artistic formulas in sixteenth-century India however was a general characteristic of the decorative arts and architecture and was not restricted to carpet weaving. Indian court carpet production is thought to date from the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 1556 – 1605) when, though designs were based upon contemporaneous Persian models, carpets started to exhibit a distinctively Indian style. Even with the emergence of an inimitable Indian aesthetic, certain Persian design elements, themes and compositional preferences were retained by local carpet weavers. Such analogies include the use of vivid color palettes, the fondness for animal depiction and the abundant use of interlacing vines, large palmettes and delicate flower heads.  In fact, the classical Persian carpets most in vogue at the Indian Court under the Mughal dynasty were decorated with scenes of animals and gardens and were often referred to as 'Paradise Garden' or 'Hunting' carpets. An excellent example of an early Indian 'Paradise Garden' carpet was sold Carpets from the Estate of Vojtech Blau, Sotheby's New York, December 14, 2006, lot 54. From the mid-seventeenth century, as a result of Shah Jahan's (r. 1628 – 1666) enthusiasm for European herbaria, Indian carpets became increasingly more floral in design, exhibiting more botanical realism. By the mid-1700s, as the Mughal Court transferred its economic and political focus from Persia to its new trading allies, the Western European powers such as Holland and England, it replaced the Safavid design ethos with a more European aesthetic that resulted in generally more regulated, less organic compositions and stylized design elements. For a mid-eighteenth century carpet from the Deccan decorated with such stylized motifs arranged in a controlled geometric order, see Daniel Walker, Flowers Underfoot, New York, 1997, p. 140. The mid-eighteenth century also brought the decline of the Mughal Empire after the Persian invasion of India in 1738 and with it a decrease in carpet production due to the almost complete lack of court commissions. Workshops around the country, and particularly in the northern territories where the lot offered here was woven, were supported almost entirely by the British East India Company and to some extent the invading Persians. It is most probable this lot is the product of this era and was likely to have been woven at around 1800 as a foreign commission. The design of this carpet is clearly copying Safavid models with the composition's symmetry along a central vertical axis and jewel-like colors superimposed on a rich burgundy ground. The theme of this lot is that of the abovementioned garden carpets that were so highly valued in both Persia and India in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Even though this carpet is the work of Indian craftsmen and at first it might appear as an Indian garden carpet from the Jahangir period (1605 - 1627), the subtle differences in design suggest that the weaver followed Persian and not Indian prototypes. The cypress trees on each side of the field clearly derive from Persian models and can be found on numerous Safavid rugs, such as a garden carpet dating from the sixteenth or seventeenth century now in the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts, see Susan Day, et al, Great Carpets of the World, New York and Paris, 1996, p. 147. The symmetrical placement of lions along a central axis accentuated by flora is also a Safavid motif and, among other pieces, can be found in a sixteenth-century fragmentary carpet from Kirman, now in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, see Arthur Upham Pope, A Survey of Persian Art, Volume XII, Tehran, p. 1204. The animal figures, though common in both Persian and Indian carpets, also appear more Safavid having been executed with great detail and a naturalism that is seldom found in Indian carpets other than those copying Persian prototypes in the times of the first Mughal emperors. Here the animals are surrounded by gracefully and naturalistically drawn trees that are hallmarks of early Persian garden carpets. The multi-colored palmettes gracing the field are also more Persian in appearance with their rounded edges. Palmettes and leaves decorating Indian pieces most often have finely serrated sides, pointed tips and flame-like shapes that are atypical to Persian works. The white flower heads sprinkled over the field here, on the other hand, are far too stylized for a typical early Indian carpet that, as mentioned above, depicted flowers with great botanical accuracy. This, again, suggests that the weaver of this carpet aimed to execute a piece in the Persian style. The unusually powerful and wide border of the lot offered here also recalls Persian models with its interlaced arabesque design and is comparable to a border fragment now in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum, see May H. Beattie, Carpets of Central Persia, Kent, 1976, p. 68, fig. 39, and a 'Vase' carpet fragment in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, see Pope, op. cit., p. 1220. Possibly based on an existing Persian cartoon or even an original Safavid carpet, this carpet could have been commissioned by a western trader for the European market or a Qajar client at a time when sixteenth and seventeenth-century Safavid art was held in particularly high esteem in Persia and works of art from that period were in great demand. Regardless of the original owner, this piece is an outstanding piece of textile art that successfully recalls the golden age of Safavid Persia – in India.