An Ottoman rug, Cairo, Egypt

Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art, Carpets for the Great Shah, October 3 - November 16, 1948

Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art, Masterpieces: European Arts from the Collection, August 25, 2007 - April 15, 2008

The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Illustrated Handbook of The W. A. Clark Collection, The Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C.: W. F. Roberts Company, 1928, p. 74
"Carpets for the Great Shah: The Near-Eastern Carpets from the W. A. Clark Collection," The Corcoran Gallery of Art Bulletin, Washington, D.C., Vol. 2, No. 1, October 1948, p. 26

Pile generally good, ranging from 1/10in. with areas of wear low to knotheads and foundation in areas of foldwear. Scattered spot stains. Original selvages intact with some later overcasting. Upper end with remnants of original flatwoven finish ranging from 1/4in. down to the edge of the outer guard stripe. Lower end with very small losses to outer guard stripe, now secured with a binding stitch. Small repaired slits in upper corners. Upper end with velcro strip on reverse. Cloth tape sewn on reverse on all sides. Extremely supple handle, lustrous wool. Outstanding condition for age.
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.

As visible in the field of lot 1, the design of Ottoman Cairene rugs is most often made out of scrolling floral vinery lattice with rosettes, palmettes and curling saz, arched lush reed leaves that characterize late sixteenth and seventeenth century Ottoman art. However, whereas that carpet is a transitional piece between the Mamluk and Ottoman aesthetic, this rug is completely in the Ottoman style as both its field and main border are populated by the abovementioned vegetal motifs. The border’s in-and-out curling saz leaves appear in numerous surviving Ottoman Cairene examples, including carpets in the Stefano Bardini Collection, see Alberto Boralevi, Geometrie d’Oriente: Stefano Bardini e il tappeto antico, Livorno, 1999, pp. 32-33. The inner and outer guard borders with their small flower heads are also typical to Ottoman Cairene rugs and can be seen in other examples such as the one sold Sotheby’s New York, April 7, 1992, lot 86. What makes the present rug unique is the scale of the reed leaves of the field: regardless of their size, Ottoman Cairene rugs and carpets always have fields densely decorated with small-scale saz leaves. Lot 1 in this sale is a good example of this custom. For a large medallion carpet with a field populated by a myriad of small curling reed leaves see Moshe Tabibnia, Milestones in the History of Carpets, Milan, 2006, p. 168. A small Cairene fragment where the small leaves are accented by a large number of flower heads, making the pattern even more condensed, sold Sotheby’s New York, June 2, 2010, lot 37. The field of the rug offered here is dominated by four large and particularly lush saz leaves that completely overpower the medium-size medallion centering a horizontal row of palmettes, giving the rug a very interesting symmetry and balance. Since the border is decorated with leaves of customary size, the large leaves in the field appear even more exaggerated and powerful. For a rug with almost identically curved saz leaves, but of smaller scale, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, see M. S. Dimand and Jean Mailey, Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1973, p. 200. The pairs of large scale curling leaves in this rug are more typical of larger carpets, see John Kimberly Mumford, The Yerkes Collection of Oriental Carpets, New York, 1910, pl. 24; Arthur Upham Pope, Early Oriental Carpets, (exh. cat.), Chicago, 1926, p. 90; Sotheby's New York, September 24, 1991, lot 240. The remarkable condition and retention of color of the present rug allows this highly unusual design to read extremely well.