Very Fine Tabriz Leopard Rug

Rug #1079
Size: 138 x 96 cm / 4.5 x 3.1 ft
Handwoven in: 
Design: 
Category:  
POA

Very Fine Leopard Rug Pictorial Fine Kork Wool (Cashmere) and Silk on Silk foundation

This Persian Tabriz rug is published in;

THE PERSIAN CARPET, ‘The Fabric of Life’, Essie Sakhai, Woodbridge, 2008.

pl. 175, p. 235.

The Tabriz rug shown here represents an aspect of carpet design that has been continuously experimented with and developed over the past hundred years or so. Pictorial rugs often have subjects taken from Iranian history and mythology, which in turn have been filtered through the interpretations of the great Persian writers and poets as well as having been derived from other Persian art forms; the reliefs at Persepolis, for example, have proved a rich source of imagery for carpet weavers. Such rugs have been popular both in Iran itself and in the West since the 19th century and towards the end of that period, as the demand grew enormously in the West for new Persian styles in carpet weaving, images began to be taken from Western sources. The cultural phenomena of illustrated picture postcards, posters and reproductions in the various new and cheap lithographic techniques, for instance, all proved popular in the Middle East and the various de-luxe volumes devoted to Persian history and lavishly illustrated with coloured lithographs, which behan appearing in Europe, particularly France, in the mid-19th century, also proved fertile sources for the imaginitive Persian weaving entrepreneur. In more recent years, the sources have been illustrated books of all sorts, as can be seen in some of the examples illustrated here, photography. Such rugs range from the almost naive style seen on many village rugs from westeran Persia – Azerbaijan, Hamadan, Saruk, Bijar, and the settled town weavers of Fars – through to extraordinary sophisticated examples from the major weaving cities, in particular Kerman, Kashan, and Tabriz. In more recent times, Tabriz in particular has developed an extraordinary ‘school’ of pictorial carpet weaving. The greatly varying product of this Tabriz school include many ‘monetary note’ rugs, examples of which are shown here, and rugs based on Western paintings, the finest of which reproduce such paintings as Frans Hal’s The Laughing Cavalier in almost vertiginous detail. There is also a group of quite remarkable rugs that have in common a flowing graphic style loosely based on the great Persian schools of miniature painting of the 15th and 16th centuries somehow filtered through the lends of some of the more fantastical 19th and early-20th century European book illustrators such as Arthur Rackham. The detail in these rugs, given the perceived intransigence and unsuitability of the knotted pile medium, must arouse admiration for the truly remarkable skill involved, if for no other reason. Such rugs have proved extremely popular among wealthy Arab collectors as well as, surprisingly, in the Far East

 

Very Fine Leopard Rug. This piece was handwoven in Iran. For further information please contact us and our team will be pleased to assist you. All pieces in the collection are under the auspices of Essie Sakhai, one of the world’s foremost experts and collectors of fine handmade Persian rugs and carpets.

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