Sotheby's / Arts of the Islamic World Doha Post Auction Catalog Mar 2009

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Post Auction Catalog(s) Title: Sotheby's Arts of the Islamic World Auction held in: Doha, Qatar Sale Date: 3/19/09 Sale No: DO9004 No. of Lots: 18 No. of Pages: 104 Condition: Excellent An Example of One Lot: LOT 301 A SAFAVID VOIDED SILK VELVET, METAL THREAD STRIP AND BOUCLÉ FIGURAL PANEL, PERSIA 250,000—350,000 USDLot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 3,442,500 USD MEASUREMENTS the textile approximately 74 by 107cm.at widest point, overall dimensions including mount approximately 81 by 113cm. DESCRIPTION early 17th century mounted on silk, stretcher support TECHNICAL ANALYSIS Pile: supplementary warp silk cut loop velvet, beige, light silver grey, pale salmon, pale rose pink, coral, pale yellow, golden yellow, grass green, mauve, crimson, sky blue, midnight blue, dark walnut (mainly oxidised), 14 coloursGround fabric:Warps: pale coral silk, Z-spun, 5 warps between pile loops, each group of warps over two groups of weftsWefts: three shoots, one warp pale yellow silk, unspun, flanked by coral silk, Z-spunSupplementary wefts: pale gold, rose or coral silk, S-plied with flat silver gilt metal strip; one pair supplementary wefts between each supplementary cut velvet weft , twill bound facing every 12th warp Bouclé: silk, S-plied, wrapped flat silk metal strip Selvedges: mainly extant, approximately 11mm. wide apple green silk twill The figures woven horizontally PROVENANCE Private collection since at least 1917 CATALOGUE NOTE With its graceful drawing, brilliant colours, and meticulous execution of a very complex structure, the panel offered here is one of the finest examples of Safavid textile art. Employing voided silk velvet enriched with metal thread and bouclé in a highly detailed composition, this panel is comparable with velvets in some of the most prestigious museums and collections around the world. The present piece depicts two lavishly-dressed lady falconers, identical in design to a panel in the Keir Collection; see Friedrich Spuhler, Islamic Carpets and Textiles in the Keir Collection, London, 1978, p. 184. In the offered lot we see much of its vivid and diverse colouring, whereas the Keir Collection velvet has faded and possibly sustained some fire damage, see Spuhler, ibid, p. 189. Two larger pieces show this pair of women falconers as well as additional pair of women bearing fruit and drink, one in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, and one in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, see respectively Carol Bier, Woven from the Soul, Spun from the Heart, Washington, D.C., 1987, no. 2, pp.140-141, and Hali, 42, p. 100. Spuhler, op.cit. p.189 and Bier, op.cit. p. 140 mention, but do not illustrate, an additional piece with this composition in the National Museum of India in New Delhi. The present lot is here published for the first time, having been in a family collection from before 1917. The composition of elegantly attired figures can be found in other Persian velvets, such as a group with pairs of women holding flowers in a vertical repeat, and surrounded by flowering shrubs of similar drawing to those in the velvet offered here. Three examples of this composition are published, one sold Sotheby's New York, December 11, 1991, lot 87, now in the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar, see Jon Thompson, Silk, Doha, 2004, p. 40, another in the Keir Collection, see Spuhler, op. cit., pp. 183 and 188 and another in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, see Kahlenberg, M., "A Mughal Personage Velvet," Burlington Magazine, 115, November 1973, pl. 22. While the languid figures, elegant long robes, and delicately pointed shoes are typical of the Safavid fashion, the small hats and the deep necklines of their bodices indicate the presence of European influences. Such foreign influences were common in Persia at the time, when stimuli from both western and eastern cultures were welcome at the Safavid court. Eu... read more

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