Christie’s to hold Islamic Art Week in April

KOLKATA: An abundance of riches from the Islamic and Indian worlds will transform Christie’s two London salerooms during Islamic Art Week from 8-11 April. The sale on 8 April 2014 of Oriental Rugs & Carpets will feature property from a number of exceptional private collections from around the world, including rare 16th century weavings from Egypt, Damascus and Ottoman Turkey. On 10 April the sale of Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds including a Private Collection Donated to Benefit the University of Oxford, Part V at King Street will cover works of art from across the Islamic world, notably Turkey, Iran and India. At South Kensington Arts & Textiles of the Islamic & Indian Worlds on 11 April will also offer a diverse array of works from across the spectrum of the category.

In the carefully curated sale of 145 Oriental Rugs & Carpets, one of the highlights is the 26 lots from the collection of the late Peter Lehmann-Bärenklau, a discreet Hamburg-based collector who had fastidiously crafted an extraordinary collection of important early weavings throughout his life, the majority of which he kept hidden in an upstairs cupboard. The16th century Mamluk and Cairene carpets in the Lehmann-Bärenklau collection are examples of rare court weaving and perfectly illustrate the transformation of weaving in Egypt in the early 16th century after the Ottoman invasion of 1517. The carpets of Mamluk Egypt are the oldest and most magnificent group of carpets to have survived to the present day.