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拍品专文
The Zander-Cassirer Selendi carpet is a highly important example from this rare group of white ground, large-scale carpets displaying the ‘Bird’ design. The carpet was purchased by the German engineer, entrepreneur and art collector, Alfred Cassirer (1875-1932) from the collection of Johannes Kurt Zander (1860-1926) who was closely involved in the Anatolische Eisenbahngesellschaft (Anatolian Rail Company, now Anadolu Demiryolu Şirketi) during its attempts to build the Baghdad Railway in 1904-1905, where his family kept a house on the Aegean island Prinkipo (now Büyükada, Turkey), during this endeavor. One of almost forty significant classical large-format carpets in his collection, Cassirer was closely advised by the former curator and director of the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin, (1931-1951) Ernst Kühnel. Cassirer had always wished that his carpets be displayed in the Museum of Islamic Art and to remain there after his lifetime. Sadly however, following his death in 1932, his collection was dispersed, but eventually was returned to Berlin in 2000, through the efforts of the Detroit Institute of Arts, his daughter Eva Cassirer and Wolf-Dieter Dube, General Director of the National Museums.
‘Bird’ rugs are mentioned in an official Ottoman price register from Edirne in 1640, as being made in Selendi (a town between Ushak, Kula and Ghiordes), However, the design was clearly popular, and differences in style between examples may indicate that it was taken up in other weaving centers in the region, see R. Pinner and M. Franses, ‘The ‘Classical’ Carpets of the 15th to 17th Centuries’, HALI, Vol.6 , No. 4, 1984, their survey of the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Turkish carpet collection, p.373, hence the attribution.
‘Bird’ rugs are most often dated to the 17th century, but they begin to appear in European paintings from the mid-16th century. The earliest recorded depiction is in the portrait of a protestant Doctor of Law, 'Ladislaus von Fraunberg, Count of Haag (1505-1566)' by Hans Mielich c.1548, in the Kress Collection, New York, where the field of the ‘Bird’ rug covers a table (see M.S. Dimand and Jean Mailey, Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, 1983, p.192). Henry Hastings (1586-1643), 5th Earl of Huntingdon, is depicted standing on a 'Bird' Ushak carpet, with the same border as the present lot, in his portrait by Paulus van Somer I (attrib.), of 1601, in Queens College, Cambridge (illustrated) and a further 16th century depiction, again with this border, is seen in Portrait of a Man, attributed to François Clouet or Corneille de Lyon, c.1560-70. (Museo Lazaro Galdiano, Madrid; see K. Erdmann, Seven Hundred Years of Oriental Carpets, Faber and Faber, London, 1970, p.22, fig.10; Jon Thompson & Moshe Tabibnia, Milestones in the History of Carpets, Milan, 2006, p.242). In his discussion of the large 'Bird' carpet in the Uffizi gallery, Florence, Carlo Suriano references the Mielich portrait and how the carpet appears to show a fully developed design, suggesting that the two are contemporaneous, assuming that the rug was new when depicted (Carlo Maria Suriano, 'Patterns of Patronage, Classical carpets in the Bargello Museum, Florence', HALI, Issue 83, October/November 1995, pp.84-86).
The 1601 inventory of Bess of Hardwick’s property included, in her bedchamber, “three foote turkie Carpetes the grounds of them white, to laye about the bed.” 'Foote....carpetes' refers to carpets for walking upon; if these were ‘bird’ rugs, as seems very likely, they would have created a very dramatic effect against the scarlet wool hangings decorated with gold and silver lace in her bedchamber. Evidence that these rugs were also exported to Transylvania, can be seen in the number of examples that continue to be displayed today in the Lutheran churches there. Related rugs in St. Margaret's Church, Medias, (inv. 503) and another in the Black Church, Brasov, (inv. 146), are illustrated by Stefano Ionescu, Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania, Rome 2005, Cat.56, p.107 and Cat 59, p.108).
The 'Bird' rugs are so called after the angular motifs which form a lattice within the field but which in reality are more likely to derive from floral or arabesque motifs. Iznik tiles from the mosque of Rustem Pasha of 1559 are noted by Ferenc Batari as showing a similar development of the design from a çintamani original ('White ground Carpets in Budapest', in R. Pinner and W. Denny, (ed.): Oriental Carpet and Textile Studies, II, Carpets of the Mediterranean Countries 1400-1600, London, 1986, pp.197-199).
While small format 'bird' rugs are relatively common, appearing on the market with fair frequency, such as the example formerly in the collection of Paul Deeg, sold in these Rooms, 31 March 2022, lot 196, very few have survived on the scale of the present rug. All either have a white cloud-band border or the half-medallion border seen here, of which just fifteen examples are known to survive (and which is also the border just discernable in the van Somer, 1557 painting mentioned above). Notable large format examples with the same design using three to four repeats across the width of the field are in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Charles Grant Ellis, Oriental Rugs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 1988, no.16, pp.48-50; two in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Dimand and Mailey, op.cit., figs.172 &173, p.191), one of which was gifted by Joseph V. McMullan, 1963, (Acc: 63.207) which is less fine and with a more restricted colour palette than the present carpet. Another example was formerly in the Toms Collection (Sotheby's London, 7 June 1995, lot 137), and one in Museum für angewandte Kunst (MAK), Vienna, Inv, Nr. T 10780,(https://sammlung.mak.at/en/collection_online?id=collect-99959). An extraordinary three examples were in the Paulette Goddard Remarque sale (Sotheby's London, 18 November 1976, lots 9, 12 & 22) and a worn example, reduced in length, was sold in these Rooms 27 April 2023, lot 199. Even larger examples with between four and five repeats are in the Museo del Bargello, Florence, (inv.no. Varie 49, reduced in length), (Carlo Maria Suriano, op.cit. pl.6), the Turk ve Islam Museum, Istanbul (N. Oler (intro. by), Turkish Carpets from the 13th-18th Centuries, Istanbul, 1996, pl.113, p.155) and in two important private collections, one in Italy the other in Liechtenstein.
There is great variety in terms of quality within this group, depending on provenance and size: the larger, and presumably older, examples have a varied palette of up to seven hues, as on this carpet, while the smaller and presumably later pieces, most of which are preserved in Transylvania, typically feature only three or four colours, and their patterns are often less accurate and less finely woven.
‘Bird’ rugs are mentioned in an official Ottoman price register from Edirne in 1640, as being made in Selendi (a town between Ushak, Kula and Ghiordes), However, the design was clearly popular, and differences in style between examples may indicate that it was taken up in other weaving centers in the region, see R. Pinner and M. Franses, ‘The ‘Classical’ Carpets of the 15th to 17th Centuries’, HALI, Vol.6 , No. 4, 1984, their survey of the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Turkish carpet collection, p.373, hence the attribution.
‘Bird’ rugs are most often dated to the 17th century, but they begin to appear in European paintings from the mid-16th century. The earliest recorded depiction is in the portrait of a protestant Doctor of Law, 'Ladislaus von Fraunberg, Count of Haag (1505-1566)' by Hans Mielich c.1548, in the Kress Collection, New York, where the field of the ‘Bird’ rug covers a table (see M.S. Dimand and Jean Mailey, Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, 1983, p.192). Henry Hastings (1586-1643), 5th Earl of Huntingdon, is depicted standing on a 'Bird' Ushak carpet, with the same border as the present lot, in his portrait by Paulus van Somer I (attrib.), of 1601, in Queens College, Cambridge (illustrated) and a further 16th century depiction, again with this border, is seen in Portrait of a Man, attributed to François Clouet or Corneille de Lyon, c.1560-70. (Museo Lazaro Galdiano, Madrid; see K. Erdmann, Seven Hundred Years of Oriental Carpets, Faber and Faber, London, 1970, p.22, fig.10; Jon Thompson & Moshe Tabibnia, Milestones in the History of Carpets, Milan, 2006, p.242). In his discussion of the large 'Bird' carpet in the Uffizi gallery, Florence, Carlo Suriano references the Mielich portrait and how the carpet appears to show a fully developed design, suggesting that the two are contemporaneous, assuming that the rug was new when depicted (Carlo Maria Suriano, 'Patterns of Patronage, Classical carpets in the Bargello Museum, Florence', HALI, Issue 83, October/November 1995, pp.84-86).
The 1601 inventory of Bess of Hardwick’s property included, in her bedchamber, “three foote turkie Carpetes the grounds of them white, to laye about the bed.” 'Foote....carpetes' refers to carpets for walking upon; if these were ‘bird’ rugs, as seems very likely, they would have created a very dramatic effect against the scarlet wool hangings decorated with gold and silver lace in her bedchamber. Evidence that these rugs were also exported to Transylvania, can be seen in the number of examples that continue to be displayed today in the Lutheran churches there. Related rugs in St. Margaret's Church, Medias, (inv. 503) and another in the Black Church, Brasov, (inv. 146), are illustrated by Stefano Ionescu, Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania, Rome 2005, Cat.56, p.107 and Cat 59, p.108).
The 'Bird' rugs are so called after the angular motifs which form a lattice within the field but which in reality are more likely to derive from floral or arabesque motifs. Iznik tiles from the mosque of Rustem Pasha of 1559 are noted by Ferenc Batari as showing a similar development of the design from a çintamani original ('White ground Carpets in Budapest', in R. Pinner and W. Denny, (ed.): Oriental Carpet and Textile Studies, II, Carpets of the Mediterranean Countries 1400-1600, London, 1986, pp.197-199).
While small format 'bird' rugs are relatively common, appearing on the market with fair frequency, such as the example formerly in the collection of Paul Deeg, sold in these Rooms, 31 March 2022, lot 196, very few have survived on the scale of the present rug. All either have a white cloud-band border or the half-medallion border seen here, of which just fifteen examples are known to survive (and which is also the border just discernable in the van Somer, 1557 painting mentioned above). Notable large format examples with the same design using three to four repeats across the width of the field are in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Charles Grant Ellis, Oriental Rugs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 1988, no.16, pp.48-50; two in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Dimand and Mailey, op.cit., figs.172 &173, p.191), one of which was gifted by Joseph V. McMullan, 1963, (Acc: 63.207) which is less fine and with a more restricted colour palette than the present carpet. Another example was formerly in the Toms Collection (Sotheby's London, 7 June 1995, lot 137), and one in Museum für angewandte Kunst (MAK), Vienna, Inv, Nr. T 10780,(https://sammlung.mak.at/en/collection_online?id=collect-99959). An extraordinary three examples were in the Paulette Goddard Remarque sale (Sotheby's London, 18 November 1976, lots 9, 12 & 22) and a worn example, reduced in length, was sold in these Rooms 27 April 2023, lot 199. Even larger examples with between four and five repeats are in the Museo del Bargello, Florence, (inv.no. Varie 49, reduced in length), (Carlo Maria Suriano, op.cit. pl.6), the Turk ve Islam Museum, Istanbul (N. Oler (intro. by), Turkish Carpets from the 13th-18th Centuries, Istanbul, 1996, pl.113, p.155) and in two important private collections, one in Italy the other in Liechtenstein.
There is great variety in terms of quality within this group, depending on provenance and size: the larger, and presumably older, examples have a varied palette of up to seven hues, as on this carpet, while the smaller and presumably later pieces, most of which are preserved in Transylvania, typically feature only three or four colours, and their patterns are often less accurate and less finely woven.