Page 305 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

1942.9-478 (C-33i)
Silk Medallion Rug

Probably Kashan, Persia, late sixteenth century
Silk pile on silk warp and weft, 2.400 x 1.730 (94 x 68)
Widener Collection

TECHNICAL NOTES
Warp: Silk, UiS, pale yellow, with alternate warps slightly band (often called a tchi) and the dragon-headed stag
depressed. Weft: Silk, U, ivory x 3. Pile: Silk, U and UiS. (ch'i-lin) exemplify either the direct Safavid admiration
Asymmetrical knotting open at the left. Hor. 20 V£, 21, 23. Vert. for that ancient culture, or their esteem for the Timurids
23, 23, 20. 420 to 440 knots to the square inch. The ends are cut. who had also adapted those same motifs. The rugs were
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The sides consist of two cables of (U2S)3Z, one is weft attached, woven during the mid- to late-sixteenth century, possi-
the other probably at least partially so. Red silk (apparently 2U) bly in the same Kashan workshop as the much larger
interwoven overcasting of the cables. Colors: ivory, black- Vienna hunting carpet (Osterreichisches Museum fur
brown, brownish yellow, bluish red, pale orange, dark green
abrashed to yellow-greens, medium blue abrashed darker, and angewandte Kunst, Vienna), the Rothschild hunting car-
pale blue. Several colors have faded to ecru shades. This severe- pet (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), and the Swedish
ly worn rug is in extremely fragile condition. There are many Royal hunting carpet (Royal Collection, Stockholm); a
holes throughout the surface, and the silk pile is powdering. fourth, the Branicki carpet (formerly in Villa Willamove,
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Numerous cracks have developed in the brittle warps. The cor- Warsaw), was severely damaged in World War II. In 1916
ners and edges have degraded. The end finish extends into the R. Meyer-Riefstahl observed that the Morgan-Widener
pile, and wear streaks are apparent. In 1972, to prevent further rug, along with four other rugs in private collections, was
deterioration, conservators attached the rug to a cotton fabric, closely related to three pieces that Benjamin Altman had
mounted it on a stretcher, and enclosed it in a plexiglass box. bequeathed two years earlier to the Metropolitan
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Museum of Art. By the time Kurt Erdmann's article on
PROVENANCE the group appeared in 1961, their number had grown to
J. Pierpont Morgan [1837-1913], New York. (P. W French & Co., 5
New York); inheritance from Estate of Peter A. B. Widener, by fourteen. Eberhart Herrmann discovered another
gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, example in the Wher rug (private collection), which he
Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, after purchase by funds of the Estate. published in 1986, and his study of the series is the most
comprehensive written to date. 6 One year later a six-
EXHIBITED teenth rug appeared on the London market, where it
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (with J. Pierpont entered the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art.
Morgan collection), c. 1916, unnumbered. Exhibition of Oriental Herrmann divided the sixteen rugs into two divisions:
Rugs and Textiles, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1935, Eleven in "Group A" have central medallion formats with
no. 8. Exhibition of Persian Art, The Iranian Institute, New York, fields consisting mainly of palmettes, scrolling vines, and
1940, no. 6. An Exhibition of Antique Oriental Rugs, Art Institute cloudbands; and four in "Group B" have all-over fields
of Chicago, 1947, no. 15. From Persia's Ancient Looms, The Textile consisting of animals or animal combat groups arranged
Museum, Washington, 1972, unnumbered.
in horizontal rows interspersed with a variety of floral
elements. He further divided "Group A" into three sub-
HIS PIECE BELONGS TO a homogenous group of sixteen groups based on the configurations of their medallions,
Tsmall Safavid silk rugs that Arthur Upham Pope six of which are quatrefoils (the Khalili rug can now be
regarded as unrivaled "by any group of Persian carpets added to this category), and four, including the Morgan-
for sumptuousness of material, brilliance of colour, mas- Widener rug, are octafoils. The remaining Rothschild
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terly craftsmanship, and sheer luxury." They are united rug (no. 1.9304, Osterreichisches Museum fur ange-
by their clarity of design, delicate patterns, precise drafts- wandte Kunst, Vienna) is set apart from the others
manship, weave structure, and size. The use of pure silk because of its unusual lobed ogival medallion; unlike all
pile created a richer surface sheen and more luminous the other examples, its cornerpieces are not quartered
coloring than wool, and the high density of knotting portions of the medallion. Both the animal field and
required to work with the material resulted in unusually medallion groups share related border designs. With the
refined detail. The ubiquitous presence in these pieces of exception of the significantly smaller blue-field Peytel
Chinese iconographic motifs such as the stylized cloud- animal rug (no. 6741, Musee du Louvre, Paris), the rugs

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