LARGE IRANIAN "SOFREH" QALAMKARI Cotton canvas tablecloth (sofré-qalamkar) printed in red, ochre, blue, green and black on a cream background, decorated with a large rosette in a central medallion surrounded by twenty-two alternating red and blue trees of life, scenes of characters from Persian culture, including 'Omar Khayyam, the borders with Persian poetry in black nasta'liq in cartouches, and wide borders of floral scrolls. With workshop mark printed on the back. Iran, Isfahan, 19th-20th centuries. A KALAMKARI BLOCK PRINT COTTON TABLE CLOTH PANEL, IRAN, ISFAHAN, 19TH-20TH CENTURY. DIM. 450 X 150 CM (177 3/16 X 59 1/16 IN.) NOTE The inscription near the figures reads: hakim 'umar khayyam (the philosopher 'Omar Khayyam). The Persian inscription repeated on the border is a verse from Sa'di's Bustan ("The surface of the Earth is its public tablecloth / At this feast, who cares who is friend or foe? "). On the reverse, a stamp gives the name of the artist, Mohammad 'Ali Felfeliyan: qalamkar-sazi-ye momtaz-e mohammad 'ali felfeliyan (exceptional qalamkar production by Muhammad 'Ali Filfiliyan). Large tablecloths were used for family celebrations and ceremonies until the 19th century. They were laid on the floor and various foods and bread cakes were placed on top. Poetry, particularly Saadi's poems, featured prominently on qalamkari "sofret" (see the Musée du Quai-Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris, a wooden block (inv. 71.1969.103.5) and a "Sofreh" tablecloth (inv. 71.1982.84.193). The qalamkar technique, which had almost disappeared in Iran in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, was revived in the first half of the twentieth century (Jay and Sumi Gluck, A Survey of Persian Handicraft, Tehran, 1977, pp. 186-194).