1 / 1

download is not available

Possibly Isfahan 17th Century

Medallion and Animal Carpet, c. 1600

Not on View

Medium

wool pile on silk warp and wool and cotton weft

Dimensions

overall: 437 x 225 cm (172 1/16 x 88 9/16 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.477

Artists / Makers

Isfahan 17th Century (artist)

Image Use

This image is unavailable for download.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .
Contact us about image usage .

Provenance

Théodore Mante, Marseilles, by 1913.[1] (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); inheritance from Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, after purchase by funds of the Estate;[2] gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] Mante lent the carpet to a 1913 exhibition in Paris.

[2] The date of sale by Duveen to the Widener estate was 16 December 1922. It is recorded in Edith Standen's notes on the Widener collection (copy in NGA curatorial files). This date was not included in the provenance published in the NGA systematic catalogue entry (Little et al. 1998, 302-307).

Associated Names

Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Mante, Théodore
Widener, Joseph E.

Exhibition History

1913: Exposition d'objects d'art du Moyen Age et de la Renaissance, Hôtel de Sagan, Paris, 1913, no. 344, pls. 79, 80.

1940: Exhibition of Persian Art, The Iranian Institute, New York, 1940, 13, no. 16 (Guide by Phyllis Ackerman).

1947: An Exhibition of Antique Oriental Rugs, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1947, no. 22, repro., as Herat.

1972: From Persia's Ancient Looms, Textile Museum, Washington, D.C., 1972, unnumbered, repro.

1976: The Arts of Islam, Hayward Gallery, London, 1976, no. 61, repro.

Technical Summary

Warp: silk, U2S, orange with some light yellow. Alternate warps depressed. Weft: x 3. First and third shoots wool, Z and at times 2Z, beige with streaks of light red, coral, and ivory. Near the top, a brindle mixture of natural wool colors and light salmon. Elsewhere, cotton, 2Z, ivory. Second shoot cotton, 2Z, ivory. Pile: wool, 2Z with some 4Z. Asymmetrical knotting open at the left. Hor. 13,15,16. Vert. 13,12,11½. 150 to 200 knots to the square inch. The ends are cut and the sides rebuilt. Colors: ivory, brown, abrashed beige and dark flesh, crimson red, dark pink, bright brown-orange, yellow, and various shades of abrashed green and blue. In 1941 the carpet underwent extensive restoration at Karekin Beshir, New York, when over nine pounds of dirt were extracted.1 At some time in the past the rug was cut transversely into three pieces, which have been rewoven together. The entire right side of the outer guard border is a replacement, and the left side of the outer guard has been rewoven. Signs of wear and old slits where warps have broken and have been mended are visible down the carpet's center. The upper border is quite worn.

1. Arthur Upham Pope to Edith A. Standen, 28 May 1941 (in NGA curatorial files); the file contains other letters in which the conservation procedure was discussed.

Bibliography

1935: Inventory of the Objects d'Art at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, The Estate of the Late P.A.B. Widener. Philadelphia, 1935: 134.

1938: Pope 1938-1939, 3:2328; 6:pl. 1148.

1941: Erdmann, Kurt. "The Art of Carpet Making." In A Survey of Persian Art. Rezension. Ars Islamica 8 (1941): 163.

1942: Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 19, as Persian 16th Century, Animal rug.

1945: Pope, Arthur Upham. Masterpieces of Persian Art. New York, 1945: color pl. D (mis-identified: caption for this plate is actually the caption for the frontispiece, and frontispiece is captioned with information about the NGA carpet). Reprinted London, 1960, and Westport, Connecticut, 1970.

1959: Dilley, Arthur U. Oriental Rugs and Carpets. New York, 1931: 11. Rev. ed., Philadelphia, 1959: pl. 9.

1965: Ellis, Charles Grant. "Some Compartment Designs for Carpets and Herat." The Textile Museum Journal 1 (1965): 54, 55 (n.11).

1972: From Persia's Ancient Looms. Exh. cat. Textile Museum, Washington, 1972: fig. 3 (cat. by Richard Ettinghausen).

1976: The Arts of Islam. Exh. cat. Hayward Gallery, London, 1976: 100, pl. 61.

1979: Eiland, Murray. Chinese and Exotic Rugs. Boston, 1979: 160-161.

1987: Bennett, Ian. "Splendours in the City of Silk. Part 2: Ten Safavid Masterpieces." Hali 33 (January/February 1987): 43.

1994: Klose, Christine. "Large Tree-and-Animal Carpet of the 'Herat' Group, Persia, 16th Century." The Textile Museum Journal 32/33 (1993-1994): 43, no. 18, fig. 4.

1997: Torchia, Robert Wilson. "Widener's Gift." Hali 92 (May 1997): 88-97, 120, fig. 4.

1998: Bower, Virginia, Josephine Hadley Knapp, Stephen Little, and Robert Wilson Torchia. Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings; Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1998: 302-307, color repro.