29/05/2026
A Khotan rug from East Turkestan, dated to the early 19th century, is a highlight in Austria Auction Company’s upcoming ‘Masterpieces IV’ sale on 30 May at 4pm GMT.
It is difficult to imagine what we would know about East Turkestan carpets had a young diplomat in Shanghai in the 1920s not taken an early interest in them. With access to Chinese dealers, he studied both carpets and felt textiles over the next twenty years he spent in China. Hans Bidder (1897–1963) was only able to devote himself fully to his notes after his retirement; his wife later published the resulting work posthumously. For decades, it remained the only monograph on this group of carpets.
The extraordinary border of our example immediately calls this publication to mind, although one must turn the book upside down to confirm that it corresponds to the upper carpet on Plate XVII. The field is covered with so-called besh güls, or five-flower motifs. In a staggered arrangement, four of these besh güls combine with a rhombus to form what Bidder described as a Herati pattern. The field appears to rest upon another carpet with a four-flower motif enclosed within rhombuses, an illusion rendered particularly convincing in the lower right corner.
A superb carpet with outstanding provenance.
Image: Khotan rug, East Turkestan, early 19th century. 308 x 152 cm, starting price €5,000
