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Safavid voided silk velvet brocade, Persia, 17th century. Estimate: £300-500,000

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07 April 2010

Sotheby’s Arts of the Islamic World auction on 14th April 2010 in London has fewer rugs than one would like to see but it does contain a few items of high quality that merit the attention of serious collectors.

Within the Islamic sale proper there are two very interesting textiles, the star lot being lot 165, a fine 17th century Safavid voided silk velvet brocade fragment estimate £300-500,000 and lot 107 a very rare Sogdian slit tapestry 9th/10th century wool coat, estimate £100-120,000. The velvet is previously unpublished and appears to be similar to fragments in the Bargello in Florence, the Gulbenkian in Lisbon and the de Young in San Francisco, and there are still traces of the original metal thread on areas of the voided ground.

The coat depicts pearled roundels with gazelles or deer and small birds in the manner that one would expect but the use of wool rather than silk and slit tapestry is unusual. It has been carbon-dated to confirm its dating to 9th-10th century. At the back of the sale, the residue of the carpet sale, are 23 lots of carpets and textiles that include a graphic Ushak medallion carpet, lot 360, with a less typical border variant, good drawing that appears to be very undervalued at its £20-30,000 estimate, a good Shahrisyabz suzani, lot 353 estimate £8-10,000, with a greater variety of colours than is usual, and lot 357 a late 16th/early 17th century Safavid Hunting rug, estimate £150-200,000, which is one of a pair of such rugs, the other being in an unnamed US private collection.