A Private Collection of Islamic and European Textiles, Carpets and Ceramics will be sold in Tennants Auctioneers’ Spring Sale, Day One on 19th March. Comprising seventy lots, the collection has been put together over the last 45 years by a gentleman in the United Kingdom.
Amongst the selection of rare and early carpets and rugs in the collection is a 17th Century ‘Lotto’ Rug from West Anatolia (estimate: £10,000-15,000 plus buyer’s premium). Rugs of this design take their name from the Venetian artist Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1557), who used rugs of this distinctive pattern as props in several his paintings. By the start of the 16th century, ‘Lotto’ rugs and carpets had been imported into Northern Europe and beyond from Istanbul and Smyrna and were enormously expensive status symbols. A South Caucasian Carpet dating from the late 18th or early 19th century is offered with an estimate of £7,000-10,000. Such rugs are thought to have been made in the Karabagh region of the South Caucasus and are recognised for their distinctive design and excellent quality dyes.
A rare Ottoman Silk Velvet Çatma Panel, made in Bursa or Istanbul in the 17th century is also up for sale (estimate: £5,000-6,000). The faded crimson panel depicts large, serrated leaves with a tulip and pomegranates, and is a fragment from a larger wall hanging of a type made during the 16th and 17th centuries for the Ottoman Court and senior nobility. Such wall hangings were used in much the same way as tapestries were employed in Christian Europe during the same period. The production of fine carpets and tapestries was often sponsored and controlled by the Ottoman Court to preserve the quality of workmanship.
Amongst the early Persian and Ottoman ceramics in the collection is a Garrus Green Glazed Earthenware Bowl from the 12th or 13th century (estimate: £2,000-3,000). Garrusware takes its name from a region in North Western Iran, where such pottery with distinctive incised decoration and green glazes have been found, dating from the 12th and 13th centuries. Further highlights include a 13th Century Kashan Pottery Ewer (estimate: £1,500-2,000), and a Damascus Pottery Tile from the late 16th or early 17th century (estimate: £1,500-2,000).
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