Fine Tehran with silk
210 x 147 cm (6' 11" x 4' 10")
Persia, early 20th century
Condition: excellent
Warp: silk, weft: silk, pile: wool and silk

The Garrus-Bidjar carpets are undoubtedly among the most beautiful works produced in Persia in the second half of the 19th century. Here, however, we have a wonderful, complex vine pattern with a ravishing, typical green-ground border in an extremely rare semi-silk specimen from Tehran. It shows that masterpieces could still be created at the beginning of the 20th century.
We know that these patterns originate from the Garrus region northeast of Bidjar from a number of inscribed, mostly large-format pieces that refer to "work from Garrus" and "from the Garrus area." Three of these carpets were commissioned by Ali Khan Amir Nizam Garrusi. The elegant red tendrils flow into arabesques and merge into palmettes. In addition, the dark blue field is covered with a variety of flowering shrubs, some of which are overlaid by the tendrils.
The whole follows a classic Safavid concept, as we find it, for example, in a large fragment in the MAK in Vienna (inv. no. T 7346). The graceful yellow "cloud" shapes in the border on a green background is particularly appealing and elegant, while the seemingly random white lines within the red lancet leaves enliven the design.
In our carpet, the Garrus motif is also rendered in luxurious silk and offers the advantage of not reaching the eight-meter length of the signed pieces.