Rug - 72 cm - 49 cm - Turc Istanbul

Genuine Turkish Istanbulian or Héréké Silk Rug: 49 x 72 cm -

Translation of the inscriptions

1. At the top: **"شراب اندر کف"**
Translation: "Wine in hand" or "Wine in hand".

2. On the left: **"چنگ اندر کف"**
Translation: "Lyre in hand" or "Lute in hand".

3. On the right: **"کتف اندر کف"**
This seems to be a deformation or stylization, but probably intended to rhyme with the others. The word "کتف" means "shoulder", which here is probably metaphorical or poetic.

4. At the bottom: **"جام بیدار هوش"**
Translation: "The cup that awakens the mind" or "The cup of awakening of the intelligence".

The motif is typical of feast scenes or classical Persian poetry, often linked to the works of **Hafez** or **Omar Khayyam**, which celebrate the pleasures of wine, music, and poetry.

Perfect, I will explain to you the symbolism of this scene in Persian culture.

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### **1. The Old Man (Sage or Poet) with the wine cup:**

* He often represents the **Sufi** or the **mystic poet** (like Hafez, Omar Khayyam or Rumi).
* Wine in Persian poetry is not just an alcoholic drink; it is a **spiritual symbol**:

* **Mystical awakening**, divine ecstasy.
* **Transcendence of reason** to reach divine love.
* Wine is a terrestrial "taboo" but allowed in the "spiritual world", which denounces social hypocrisy.

### **2. The dancing woman (Wine dancer):**

* She embodies **sensual pleasure**, earthly beauty.
* But in Sufi poetry, she also becomes an **allegory of the free soul** that dances in the quest for union with the Divine.
* The reclining and relaxed pose symbolizes the surrender to moral constraints.

### **3. The musician (Lyre or rubab player):**

* He symbolizes **cosmic harmony**.
* Music is seen as a means to reach spiritual ecstasy and to vibrate with the universe.
* It is the sonic equivalent of mystical wine: a path to self-forgetting in the Whole.

### **4. The inscriptions (Epicurean poetry):**

* They evoke the three elements of the mystic feast: **wine (شراب)**, music (**چنگ**), and pleasure (**کتف**).
* The bottom evokes the "cup that awakens the mind", thus an invitation to transcend material life through pleasures that lead to higher consciousness.

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### **Global symbolism:**

This kind of scene is not merely a celebration of earthly pleasures:

* It is a **metaphor for the Sufi mystic path**:

* One frees oneself from rigid rules (religious or social).
* One seeks the **divine truth** through art, wine, beauty, and love.
* It is a gentle revolt against hypocrisy and a quest for authenticity.