NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1860

The moon shawl (chandar) first appeared in Kashmir in 1680 and is characterised by its spacious, square field, central moon-like medallion, with further quarter medallions in each corner. This style developed from earlier sixteenth century Cairene carpets produced in Ottoman Egypt (Ryan Paveza, “Moon Shawl (Chand-Dar)”, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, vol. 34, no. 1, 2008, pp. 88–96, p.88) which share this arrangement of decoration (see, for example, two carpets sold in these Rooms, 29 April 2004, lot 101 and 7 October 2014, lot 24). Like their Ottoman inspiration, moon shawls were largely produced according to Western stylistic demands and became particularly favoured by British and French ladies in the last quarter of the eighteenth century (ibid., p.88).
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