Persian Tabriz Kourk
Stock No. SY-141-000005
Size(m): 3.00×2.55
For a pictorial rug this is large. As a beautiful work of art, it is massive. It is made of the finest Kourk wool by most talented craftsmen in both design and execution. This is more than a depiction of sensual pleasure and intoxication. In the mix we see outside an arch window a garden, there is also the presence of an old man walking away and it is decorated by many flowers. The old man is Omar Khayyam, and this picture shows completely him as an observer, perhaps not unlike Socrates who answered the suggestion that if he is the wisest man in Greece it is because he knows he does not know. Omar appears alone and isolated from the others, but he does not dislike what he sees. It is just that he knows how short term everything is, particularly youth and pleasure.
It may be said that Omar in is writings presents as an isolated figure in a world where his real knowledge of what life is all about is limited. He observes a great deal and understands that our life is as perennial as the grass. He suggests in the Rubaiyat that we should therefore drink from life’s cup before the liquor in it be dry. Is that really the answer? This picture suggests there is more to Omar’s writing that that view, for we must look at the bigger picture. In this artwork, as a backdrop to the naked hedonism, we see a window opening onto a garden. In Persian culture gardens are often depictions of paradise and of the everlasting.
As a work of art this is breath taking, and as an allegory of the human condition it does justice to Omar Khayyam’s view, but subtly reminds us by the depiction of paradise that there must more to it all than the temporary pleasures. Omar’s face is worth study, and it may be said that his face does give the game away. Omar truly understands that our actions have consequences, as all of the hedonism is confined almost ‘gated in’ and is in the centre. However opposite the window to heaven is an equally apparent archway that shows a jar that is void of life. One ‘gate’ to heaven with its opposite ‘gate’ to hell.
This great work of art, highly mystical and very deep.