The Cassin Collection at Auction (IV) The King of the Yellow Rug Group

 




According to his Anatolian kilim opus (p. 8), Cassin had found this gorgeous yellow ground rug fragment in 1981 when traveling on his own in Anatolia. He had left his German travel companion from Nuremberg in Istanbul as, according to Jack, the guy wasn't able to behave properly. The purpose of the trip was twofold: to find one or two collectibles in Turkey and "to do some first-hand research into early archetype rugs and kelim." As to the former, he only found one rug worth to take home (the above) but no kilim. Note that Jack always emphasized that the small collection of archetype kilims from Anatolia was already in his possession before he went to Turkey. At least seven of these kilims are currently at auction in Philadelphia (see my previous post).

The fragment is what he calls the "King of the yellow rug group". As far as we know, Cassin kept this rug for almost forty years and never even considered it for sale. I am quite sure that he did not show this rug to too many experts, if any. When Cassin was in Anatolia, he was driving a 1979 450 SEL Mercedes Benz which he had bought in Germany. Unfortunately, Jack was no longer able to tell us the true story of the rug purchase.

It may actually be that Cassin, in his last year, met with one of his most despised adversaries in Munich to discuss this particular rug. Just before the upcoming auction, Michael Bischof, a German expert in natural dyes and their application to Anatolian weavings, has made some cryptic statements about the origin of the fragment and the circumstances of its purchase on Kilim, a Facebook group of which he is an administrator. Bischof had mentioned before that he had made peace with Cassin whom he had met for a last time in 2018 in Munich. Is it credible when he now claims that he had seen the fragment (then or afterwards?) "in the flesh"? It is, according to Bischof, everything else than the "king of yellow rugs". According to Bischof, "[i]t is an early piece in this group, most likely not older than other ones of the same age, significantly faded but intact as not being washed so the yellow impact was still recognizeable."

Anyway, what Cassin found in Anatolia is in fact a remarkable example of a yellow-ground rug from, as the auction house mentions, rug fragment from Konya, 17th/18th century. True, there may be numerous pieces with this particular design and of comparable age in various famous collections. But that Cassin found that one on his first and only trip to Anatolia is amazing.

We'll see how the yellow ground rug fragment from Konya will perform.

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