A Lahore carpet, Northwest India

Hagop Kevorkian (1872 - 1962)
Sold by the order of the Kevorkian Foundation, Sotheby's & Co., London, 5th December 1969, lot 11.  (Purchase price noted in the 1969 catalogue was £1100 and $2,640)
Subsequently purchased by the present owner

Exhibited Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1966 (one of a group of forty-one carpets), Maurice S. Dimand, Exhibition Catalogue, No.24 (not illustrated)
A Collection of Highly Important Oriental Carpets, Part I (forty-one carpets), Sold by the order of the Kevorkian Foundation, Sotheby's & Co., London, 5th December 1969, lot 11 (colour illustration)

Overall measurements: 248cm across the top, 249cm across the bottom, (252cm across the centre), 456cm along the left side, 466cm along the right side Pile worn overall, variable with red ground generally most worn, down to knot-heads and foundation (for example particularly worn upper left corner of main field), blue and yellow generally in better condition. There are some angled construction repairs, for example in centre of the left side, approx, 22cm, 29cm and 10cm. long. There are some repaired splits in all four corners, approximately 22cm bottom left, 17cm bottom right, 18cm top right, 12cm top left. There is a small patch, 4cm high by 6cm wide in the lower left corner of end guard. There are losses to both end guards, as visible in the photograph, especially within the corners. Herringbone binding attached across the top end. Re-overcast side cords. Beautiful drawing and balanced design, with striking `tile' motif border.
"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."

The Kevorkian Foundation Collection comprised of two parts, the first of which was sold in 1969 and included the major section of carpets from India, Asia Minor and Persia, all of which were collected by the late Hagop Kevorkian (1872 - 1962), the founder of the Kevorkian Foundation. Mr Kevorkian was a renowned archaeologist, collector and connoisseur of art, who through his lifetime assembled an outstanding collection of Oriental Art. The group of pieces including the present carpet were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and other museums. They were presented in a catalogue prepared by Maurice S. Dimand, with an introduction to the origins and style of nearly all the carpets displayed and special mention that the collection 'contains many magnificent pieces, some of them unique'. Mr Kevorkian was particularly interested in antique and Islamic art of the Near East. He collected art for himself and for his clients, which included J.P. Morgan, Cora Timken Burnett, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Kevorkian Foundation became an important source of support for the Department of Islamic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. For further information see The Making of a Collection: Islamic Art at the Metropolitan, November 1, 2011 - February 5, 2012, which included Hagop Kevorkian.

Throughout the 16^th and 17^th centuries the decorative arts of the Safavid court found great favour with the Mughal Emperors, and Persian artists were brought to India to pursue their highly developed crafts. The Mughal artistic aesthetic developed through the 17^th century as naturalistic flowering motifs. The region of Lahore and Kashmir in Northern India, was a major carpet Imperial weaving centre in the late 17^th and 18^th century, along with Deccan in the South. The semi naturalistic flowers of earlier Persian works developed into a sophisticated Mughal style under Emperor Jahangir (1605-1627) and reached a zenith under Shah Jahan (1627-1658). The design is considered to belong to a group categorised as closely following the Persian style, with the use of ‘scrolling vines and blossoms’ within the main field. This group of carpets faithfully reflect the compact designs of Persian scrolling vine and blossom pattern carpets, without figural imagery. In the present carpet the Indian motifs of the segmented and serrated petal blossoms are interspersed to elegant effect with the Persian palmettes and scrolls. The use of the cloudband motifs in the border, suggesting Chinese influence, can also be seen in the Indian architectural designs of the period, for example within the decoration of the Red Fort in Delhi under the reign of Shah Jahan. The compartmentalised and geometric border type is reminiscent of late Herat Persian prototypes. A notable Persian inspired Indian 17^th century carpet from this group being the Lahore carpet in the Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya, Japan, which is considered to have been acquired by the Tokugawa Emperor in the 17^th century via Dutch traders.

See Sotheby’s, London, 30 April 2003, lot 28, for a Mughal rug, Lahore, dated to the 17^th century (approximately 188 by 122cm), with a wide border in relation to the main field, with cartouches with flowering stems alternative with red cusped medallions, and a red main field with delicate scrolling vines, sickle leaves and palmettes alternating in rows with flowerhead motifs, not dissimilar to the present carpet.

For a comparable Lahore carpet fragment, early 17^th century, with a red field with similar overall design, and incorporation of cloud band motifs within the border which has a design of alternating cusped medallions and cartouches, see Sotheby’s, London 23^rd April 1997, lot 5 (approximately 76 by 260cm, with two sections of border at top and bottom). For another carpet with similar floral field and cartouche and cusped medallion border design (30ft. 3in by 11ft. 1in; 922cm by 335cm), see Dimand, M.S. & Mailey, J., Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1973, fig.129, pp.148-149. The Animal and tree, Lahore gallery carpet, early 17^th century (27ft 4in by 9ft 6in, ) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has a border type incorporating  a six pointed star, floral stems and cloudbands, Ex Collection: Lady Sackville; Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan’, op.cit., fig.128. Other related examples are in the Jaipur City Palace Museum.

See Sotheby’s, London, 16 April 1987, lot 89, for a Mughal rug, early 17^th century (approximately 206 by 132cm), with a madder field and design that is the reverse of the above cited, in that is has interlocking star motifs across the red ground of the main field, and large palmettes within the wider border. For a ‘Cloud-Band’ Lahore carpet, end of 17^th century (414 by 174cm), of similar conception in field design and border to the present carpet, only with very distinctive large cloud-band motifs and three palmettes which are much larger than any of the others, see Spuhler, Friedrich, The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection: Carpets and Textiles, London, 1988, Chp. 5, Mughal Indian Carpets [45-47], pp.171-183, No. 47. (Acc.No. DEC0013/CXXXI: Provenance: Benguiat Collection, French & Co, New York, 29 February 1924, lot 419 and Sotheby’s, New York, 18 May 1985, lot 49, and Sotheby’s, New York, 11 December 1991, lot 122).

For comprehensive discussion of Mughal Indian carpet manufacture and the importance of Lahore, and Persian inspired pieces, see Walker, Daniel, Flowers underfoot, Indian Carpets of the Mughal Era, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1997, Chp. 1., India during the Mughal Era, pp.3-14, and Chp. 4, The Carpets, Persian Style, pp.29-85, ‘Scrolling vine and pattern blossom’, pp.57-71, fig. 52, pp.58-59.