‘A Collection of Collections’, Sotheby’s London, 6 November

October 31, 2018

Sale highlights

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Lots from Sotheby’s 'A Collection of Collections' sale, including a handful of classical Ushak, Esfahan and Caucasian rugs and fragments, as well as some particularly good Chinese and East Turkestan rugs.

: Lot 52, Kashgar silk carpet, Xinjiang, late 17th/early 18th century. 2.17 x 3.61 m (7′ 1″ x 11′ 10″). Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, Sotheby’s, London, 6 November 2018, estimate £80-120,000

: Lot 46, Mughal silk floral lattice carpet fragment, Deccan, probably Hyderabad, late 17th century. 1.63 x 1.44m (5′ 4″ x 4′ 9″). Sotheby’s, London, 6 November 2018, estimate £20-30,000

: Lot 71, The Larsson lion-dog medallion with ‘hundred antiques’ dais carpet, China, first half 18th century. 2.55 x 2.73 m (8′ 4″ x 8′ 11″). Sotheby’s, London, 6 November 2018, estimate £50-80,000

: Lot 89, The Scofield Thayer Ninghsia carpet, West China, late 18th/19th century. 4.24 x 4.14m (13’11” x 13’7″). Sotheby’s, London, 6 November 2018, estimate £50-80,000

: Lot 66, Oushak ‘Transylvanian’ rug, West Anatolia, late 17th century. 1.87 x 1.38m (6′ 1″ x 4′ 6″). Sotheby’s, London, 6 November 2018, estimate £15-25,000

: Lot 58, ‘Transylvanian’ rug, West Anatolia, third quarter 17th century. 1.52 x 1.27m (5′ x 4′ 2″). Sotheby’s, London, 6 November 2018, estimate £12-15,000

: Lot 1, Selendi ‘bird’ carpet fragment, Oushak region, West Anatolia, late 17th century. 2.23 x 1.37m (7′ 4″ x 4′ 6″). Sotheby’s, London, 6 November 2018, estimate £5-8,000

: Lot 87, Ninghsia rug, West China, Qing Dynasty, late 17th century. 1.68 x 1.12m (5′ 6″ x 3′ 8″). Sotheby’s, London, 6 November 2018, estimate £4-6,000

: Lot 37, Pontremoli needlework carpet, London, England, circa 1924-1926. 6.19 x 4.25m (20′ 2″ x 13′ 10″). Sotheby’s, London, 6 November 2018, estimate £25-40,000

: Lot 51, Isphahan ‘Spiral-vine’ carpet, Central Persia, 17th century. 4.12 x 1.76m (13′ 6″ x 5′ 9″). Sotheby’s, London, 6 November 2018, estimate £8-12,000

: Lot 137, A ‘hunting’ carpet, Vellore, South India, circa 1914. 5.06 x 3.32m (16′ 7″ x 10′ 11″). Sotheby’s, London, 6 November 2018, estimate £15-25,000

: Lot 59, A Yarkand carpet, East Turkestan, circa 1800. 3.77 x 1.81m (12′ 4″ x 5′ 11″). Sotheby’s, London, 6 November 2018, estimate £20-30,000

Sotheby’s London sale on 6 November is led by a group of 25 carpets from the Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza collection in Madrid, more than half of which were acquired after the publication of May Beattie’s 1972 catalogue, though most do appear in Friedrich Spuhler’s 2003 effort. The consignment includes a handful of classical Ushak, Esfahan and Caucasian rugs and fragments, as well as some particularly good Chinese and East Turkestan rugs.

Lot 52, Kashgar silk carpet, Xinjiang, late 17th/early 18th century. 2.17 x 3.61 m (7′ 1″ x 11′ 10″). Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, Sotheby’s, London, 6 November 2018, estimate £80-120,000

Foremost among Baroness Thyssen’s post-Beattie carpets is a late 17th-century first-period silk Kashgar carpet with a dense, ‘Mughal-style’, floral design (lot 52), published in 1997 by Michael Franses in his article on ‘Silk pile covers from Western China’, in the Fourth HALI Annual (p.96, fig.14). It is estimated at £80-120,000. A large, square-format, late 18th/19th-century Ningxia dais cover with a ‘leaf- dragon’ medallion, last seen at auction at Sotheby’s, New York in May 1987, when it sold for $55,000 (HALI 36, p.84), is now estimated at £50-80,000 (lot 89).

Lot 89, The Scofield Thayer Ninghsia carpet, West China, late 18th/19th century. 4.24 x 4.14m (13’11” x 13’7″). Sotheby’s, London, 6 November 2018, estimate £50-80,000

The Thyssen lots also include a Kangxi-period rug in Ming style, another four pre-1800 Ningxias, and a silk Yarkand, as well as a couple of Esfahan ‘spiral vine’ carpets, a late 18th-century blueground Azerbaijan ‘animal’ carpet, a patchworked Ushak cloudband carpet fragment and two double-niche ‘Transylvanians’.

Lot 71, The Larsson lion-dog medallion with ‘hundred antiques’ dais carpet, China, first half 18th century. 2.55 x 2.73 m (8′ 4″ x 8′ 11″). Sotheby’s, London, 6 November 2018, estimate £50-80,000

The Sotheby’s sale overall is rich in Chinese and East Turkestan rugs from other private collections. Properties on offer include a liondog medallion with ‘hundred antiques’ dais carpet, first half 18th century, published in Lennart Larsson’s Mattor från Kina, Sinkiang och Tibet (Stockholm, 1985, fig.19), and now estimated at £50-80,000 (lot 71), as well as a classic three-medallion cloud-headbordered wool Yarkand.

Lot 46, Mughal silk floral lattice carpet fragment, Deccan, probably Hyderabad, late 17th century. 1.63 x 1.44m (5′ 4″ x 4′ 9″). Sotheby’s, London, 6 November 2018, estimate £20-30,000

Carpets from other regions at New Bond Street include a reduced Mughal silk floral lattice carpet (lot 46), a second-period Mamluk rug once with Ulrich Schürmann, two more ‘Transylvanians’, one of them an unusual prayer rug with a blueground mihrab, and a Selendi ‘bird’ carpet fragment.