EAST TURKESTAN, 18TH CENTURY

The design of this carpet is closely related to the silk Kashgar floral lattice fragment, lot 100, in this sale. From the 17th century, workshops in Kashgar started to produce designs that looked to the floral lattice carpets of Mughal India for their inspiration. This carpet clearly shows the development of the floral lattice designs away from the earlier, more naturalistic style of lot 100 into the angular and simplified, geometric motifs that are characteristic of the carpets produced in the oasis towns of the Tarim basin. The present example shares a number of features with the silk kelleh that was offered in these Rooms, 2 October 2012, lot 108 and two other carpets of comparable design that were sold at Sotheby's, London, 12 October 2005, lot 122 and Sotheby's New York, 25 November 2008, lot 44.