A Khotan saph fragment

East Turkestan rugs of multiple niche (saph) design that have appeared at auction include lot 76, Sotheby's London, 11 June 2002, lots 182 and 184 from the sale of the Bernheimer Family Collection of Carpets, Christie's London, 14 February 1996, lot 117 Sotheby's New York, 17 December 1999 and lot 61, Sotheby's New York, 3 June 2005.  The present lot features compartments with differing design motifs as did the Sotheby's London and 2005 New York examples.  The other saphs cited, as well as other published examples such as fig. 37 in Bidder, Hans, Carpets from Eastern Turkestan, Accokeek, 1979 and Schurmann, Ulrich, Central-Asian Rugs, Frankfurt am Main, 1969, pl. 97 have a flowering tree or shrub in each panel with variations confined to the coloring and arch patterns.  Schurmann suggests that the varying design saphs predate the more repetative examples, op.cit. p. 147, and this hypothesis is supported by their relatively rare appearance on the market.  Additionally unusual to the saph offered here is the design of the central niche which is very similar to the field pattern of a Kansu carpet sold in these rooms 15 October 1997, lot 61.