Antique Art Deco Geometric Carpet in the Da Silva Bruhns Style
An extremely rare Art Deco period oversized carpet, originally commissioned for an important palace in northern India entirely decorated in the Art Deco style. The geometric character of the pattern is quite reminiscent of the work of Ivan Da Silva Bruhns (1881-1980), who was perhaps the most celebrated rug designer of the Art Deco period. Characterised by abstract geometric forms clearly influenced by the stylistic trends of the artistic avant-garde such as Cubism, Da Silva Bruhns carpets were often commissioned by the artistes-décorateurs of the period for the luxurious interiors of the Parisian upper class or to decorate the large rooms of the paquebots, the French ocean liners. Among the most important carpets of Da Silva Bruhns we find a series made for the sublime palace of the Maharaja of Indore, distinguished by rectangular forms overlapping on various planes and as such typical of Synthetic Cubism. The present example is clearly influenced by that style and was certainly designed by someone who was very familiar with the work of Da Silva Bruhns.