Indo-Persian carpet with vine scroll and palmette pattern

A specific weaving center has not been proposed in the present catalogue for this or the other Indo-Persian carpets. The“Indo”prefix in the name of the class indicates a perplexity regarding country of origin, and there was a time when some of the Indo-Persians were believed to be Indian.(1) This rug is an unexceptional representative of the type. Focal points in the patterns have been eliminated by the equalization of scale, a tendency attributable to the second half of the seventeenth century. The color balance of the rug has suffered from enthusiastic reknotting of pile, especially the fuzzy medium brown replacing the old dark brown that had oxidized.

Catalogue entry from Daniel Walker. The Robert Collection. Decorative Arts, Volume XV. Wolfram Koeppe, et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press, 2012, p. 377.

NOTE:
1. Beattie, May H. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection of Oriental Rugs. Lugano-Castagnola, 1972, p. 39ff.; Ellis, Charles Grant. Oriental Carpets in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 1988, p. 211ff.

[Duveen Brothers, New York]; Clarence H. Mackay, New York; private collection, New York; sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 26 January 1946, lot 133, ill. (to [French & Company, New York]). Acquired by Robert Lehman through French & Company from the 1946 sale.