IMAGE DETAILS

Esfahan strap-work carpet, central Persia, 17th century. Formerly Convento de Santo António Lisbon; Vitall Benguiat, New York; William A. Clark, New York; deaccessioned by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC. Exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1910-11. Christie’s, New York, 24 November 2009, lot 129, estimate $30-50,000, sold for $100,900

| Click to enlarge

03 December 2009

Daniel Shaffer reports: Christie’s Rockefeller Center sale ‘500 Years: Decorative Arts Europe, including Carpets from the Corcoran Gallery of Art’ included a significant treat for those interested in the history of Persian carpets – the largest assembly of 17th century ‘Esfahans’ to appear on the auction market in our memory – a red-ground baker’s dozen, one camel-ground carpet, and a silk ‘Polonaise’.

All but one of the ‘group’ were formerly in the collection of Senator William A. Clark (1839-1929), a colourful character of dubious reputation who, after a roller-coaster career in mining, banking and other industries, eventually made a great fortune as one of the ‘Copper Kings’ of Montana, and managed to get himself elected (briefly) to the US Senate. Hewas a major buyer of art and antiques on the New York and international art markets, and of oriental carpets for his Fifth Avenue mansion from Vitall Benguiat in particular.

When he died at the age of 86 in New York City, the bulk of his collection of art and fine furnishings, including many large Persian carpets from his mansion on Fifth Avenue (see HALI 127, p.41), was bequeathed to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC, where since the 1948 exhibition ‘Carpets for the Great Shah’, they have for the most part remained in storage. The Corcoran have now disposed of all but a handful, as well as a late 18th century northwest Persian gallery carpet (lot 343, $98,500), at prices far above what had seemed to be perfectly rational estimates, particularly as several of them suffer from severe condition problems. Unexpected bounty for the Gallery’s Acquisition Fund!

Most costly of CNY’s Esfahans at $254,000 each were lots 129 and 130, the former having once belonged to the 4th Duke of Lafões, D. Caetano de Bragança, (1856-1927), the latter, silk-warped, to the English artist Lord Frederick Leighton (1830-1896). Lot 131, reduced in size but otherwise with much original pile remaining, made $170,500, while lots 205 and 321 – the latter a much smaller rug in fine condition from a West Coast private collection – both fetched $158,500.

In addition to the silk ‘Polonaise’ (lot 207, $74,500), the red-ground ‘Esfahan’ group offered at CNY (lots 29-31, 129-133, 202-206, 321), mainly with variations of the typical ‘Indo-Persian’ palmette/floral repertoire, serves as a fairly comprehensive survey of central Persian commercial workshop carpets from the 17th century (and later), as the several styles, qualities, and sizes represent most of the various types Iran had to offer to the international market of the day. It includes five carpets with Portuguese noble, monastic or royal provenance. Recent original research in Portuguese archives and inventories by Jessica Hallett, to be published early in 2010, offers a plausible four-stage chronology and typology spanning the 17th century and continuing into the 18th for the production and export to Europe of such carpets. The documents also suggest that, in Portugal at least, which was a major importer of Persian carpets, many of them were said to have come to market from or through the central Persian carpet weaving centre of Yazd (see ‘From the Looms of Yazd and Isfahan’, in Carpets and Textiles in the Iranian World 1400-1700, Oxford and Genoa, forthcoming, pp.90-123).

Apart from lot 129, the other Corcoran carpets with known Portuguese connections are: lot 29, also Lafões/Bragança, $134,500; lot 30, very damaged, with a bold strap-work design field, from the Convento de Santo António, Lisbon, via Benguiat, $100,900; lot 133, Lafões/Bragança, $122,500; and lot 204, Infante (Crown Prince) Afonso Henriques (1865-1920), son of King Luís I, also via Benguiat. Following Hallett’s proposed chronology, the Lafões provenance – the Dukedom was granted in 1718 by King João V to the illegitimate descendants of his father, King Pedro II – may indicate a late 17th or even early 18th century date for their manufacture and/or importation.

The prices now fetched at CNY for these and other examples are further confirmation that the market for authentic classical period carpets, especially those from Iran with good provenance, goes from strength to strength, despite the travails of the economy and seemingly regardless of condition.