Oriental Rug Auction Preview
Christie's - London
Battilossi's Rugs and Carpets
February 11, 1998
On 11 February Christie's King Street will be holding the sale of flatweaves, rugs, and carpets from one of the most important dealers in the field in Europe, Romolo Battilossi. Battilossi is a complete enthusiast who began restoring carpets at the very early age of 11. By the time he was 20 in the early 1960s he had his own workshops and was also buying and selling antique rugs and carpets. From a relatively small beginning, the business grew until, in the 1980s, it had become one of the most influential in the world. Always retaining their base in Turin, and selling to Italian collectors from this region, the firm bought and sold many of the most important and expensive carpets to have appeared on the market.
Now after nearly 40 years in the business Romolo Battilossi has decided to retire. The sale at Christie's contains the one hundred best carpets from the collection, some of which were purchased at the very beginning of the business in the 1960s. The name of Battilossi is best-known for very good quality Persian town weavings together with Turkish and Caucasian village rugs and carpets of the 19th century as well as for a small but very select group of earlier carpets. The sale in outline follows this distribution, with superb examples in each sector. Included is a most unusual selection of soumac flat-woven carpets from the Caucasus. The sale also includes a number of room-size Persian carpets in excellent condition including a magnificent Kirman carpet which came from the Presidential Palace in Rome.
Enquiries to: Christie's, 8 King Street, St. James, London, SW1, UK,
tel: (44 171) 839 9060, fax; (44 171) 839 1611, http://www.christie's.com
[Editor's Note: We will be adding more lots to this auction preview as time and energy permit. Some of these lots were not easy scans. The reds on most of the antique Turkish lots are running a bit warm. If we were back in our glory days when George O'Bannon was Editor, we might be standing over a printing press at 3:00 AM, and George would be looking at a sheet freshly pulled from the press. He would stare at it for minutes at a time and would finally peer at me over his reading glasses and say, "Let's give it a little shot of blue." So, when viewing some of these graphics, picture the reds with a little shot of cooling blue."]
The Rugs and Carpets
Lot 9
A BERGAMA RUG
WEST ANATOLIA, FIRST HALF 19TH CENTURY
Lot 16
A KARABAGH RUG
CAUCASUS, THIRD QUARTER 19TH CENTURY
Lot 22
AN ISFAHAN RUG
CENTRAL PERSIA, 17TH CENTURY
Lot 25
A HERIZ CARPET
NORTH WEST PERSIA, CIRCA 1890
Lot 26
A HERIZ CARPET
NORTH WEST PERSIA, CIRCA 1900
Lot 42
A MARASALI LONG RUG
NORTH EAST CAUCASUS, CIRCA 1860
Lot 44
A BERGAMA RUG
WEST ANATOLIA, FIRST HALF 19TH CENTURY
Lot 50
A DRAGON SOUMAC RUG
EAST CAUCASUS, DATED AH 1252 (1836-7 AD), POSSIBLY EARLIER
Lot 58
A TALISH LONG RUG
SOUTH CAUCASUS, EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Lot 64
A HERIZ RUG
NORTH WEST PERSIA, CIRCA 1890
Lot 65
A HERIZ CARPET
NORTH WEST PERSIA, CIRCA 1880
Lot 66
A BAKSHAISH RUG
NORTH WEST PERSIA, CIRCA 1900
Lot 75
A KARATCHOPF KAZAK RUG
SOUTH CAUCASUS, FIRST HALF 19TH CENTURY
Lot 83
A BIDJAR CARPET
WEST PERSIA, ClRCA 1900
Lot 84
A HERIZ CARPET
NORTH WEST PERSIA, ClRCA 1890
Lot 86
A DRAGON SOUMAC CARPET
EAST CAUCASUS, THIRD QUARTER 19TH CENTURY
Lot 90
A STAR USHAK CARPET
WEST ANATOLIA, LATE 16TH CENTURY
Lot 96
A HERIZ CARPET
NORTH WEST PERSIA, CIRCA 1880
Lot 111
A BERGAMA RUG
WEST ANATOLIA, CIRCA 1800
Lot 113
A SAROUK RUG
WEST PERSIA. CIRCA 1880
LOT 116
A CHELABERD RUG
SOUTH CAUCASUS, ClRCA 1880
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