

If we accept that a higher calibre of design and palette of colour would indicate a work from the imperial capital, the offered lot could well have originated from there. The intensity and richness of the crimson ground is beguiling and the beautiful drawing of the ‘C’ scrolls, palmettes and cloudbands, remarkable. A carpet incorporating very similar drawing of these motifs, formerly in the Corcoran collection, sold Sotheby’s New York, 5 June 2013, lot 4; in particular the large saffron palmette in the present lot is highly similar to those in the Corcoran example. Also another fragment, possibly from the same carpet, sold Sotheby's London, 28 April 2004, lot 5. This offered carpet fragment is enticing and leaves the viewer in wonder at how magnificent it would have been in its complete state, a thought-provoking and imaginative work.