Page 308 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

i6oi, when King Sigismund Vasa III of Poland commis- lion rug with cloudbands serves the former function in an
sioned pieces from workshops there. 17 In 1607 the early Safavid miniature from Nizami's Khamsa (1525,
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Carmelite priest Paul Simon mentioned the "very fine Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). Although the
carpets of silk and gold, brocades, velvets and other silk precise function of the small silk Kashans is unknown,
stuffs" he had seen in Kashan, although he may have there may be some truth to Riefstahl's theory that they
been referring to Polonaise rugs. Given the city's reputa- were "Imperial gift rugs," much like the Polonaise types of
tion for the manufacture of such products, it is logical to the seventeenth century; in 1566 Tahmasp presented silk
assume that carpets had been woven there at a much ear- carpets and rugs to the Turkish Sultan Selim II. The
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lier time. Herrmann presented political, cultural, eco- Morgan-Widener rug is an elegant example of a superla-
nomic, and stylistic evidence to sustain his view that the tive class of rugs whose light, intricate, and subtle designs
small silk rugs' well-ordered design reflected an aesthet- provide an inexhaustible source of beauty for the textile
ic that prevailed under the second Safavid ruler and enthusiast.
accomplished painter Shah Tahmasp (reigned RWT
1524-1576), rather than the florid style that ultimately
developed under Shah Abbas I (reigned 1587-1629), and NOTES
he posited that they "can be pinpointed to the third 1. Pope 1938-1939,3: 2335-
quarter of the sixteenth century." 19 Walker argued that 2. For the meaning of these symbols, which were frequently
the Vienna and Rothschild hunting carpets had probably depicted on Chinese porcelains, textiles, and art objects, see
been woven between 1530 and 1540, and the remainder of Cammann 1972, 52-54. Ch'i-lins were often represented on
the group were made over the next sixty to seventy years, robes worn by Chinese nobles and military officers.
into the reign of Shah Abbas I. Noting that designs in 3. For a discussion of these large hunting carpets, see Dimand
some of the rugs also appear in Persian wall paintings at 1971,15-20. The remains of the Branicki carpet are preserved in
Nayin (c. 1560), Walker speculated that the three small the Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg.
rugs with banded medallions were made late in the cen- 4. Meyer-Riefstahl 1916,151. See also Martin 1906-1908,56. The
tury because the motif appeared in a small Polonaise rug Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired a fourth small silk
from the first quarter of the seventeenth century Kashan medallion rug in 1958.
(Treasury of San Marco, Venice). 20 5. Erdmann 1961; this article was republished in Erdmann
The superb artisanry of these rugs and their lavish 1970, 61-65.
materials indicate that they were produced in a royal 6. The Wher rug was first published by Eberhart Herrmann,
workshop. Their complex designs, especially those of the Seltene Orientteppiche VIII (Munich, 1986, 7-15); for an English
animal rugs, suggest that painters, presumably miniatur- version of the article, see Herrmann 1987.
ists from royal ateliers, directed the artisans who made 7. Dilley 1959, 64.
them; the imagery in the Boston hunting carpet has been 8. No. 14.40.724, illustrated in Walker 1994, fig. 3, 106; no.
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related to the styles of specific painters. Pope theorized 1611, illustrated in Gans-Ruedin 1978, op. 97; the Coimbra rug
that all the carpets and rugs were "the work of one inclu- is illustrated in Herrmann 1987, 50; and the Khalili rug is as
sive establishment" under the direction of "a court official, yet unpublished.
probably a painter, with administrative talents to keep his 9. This octafoil medallion carpet is discussed in Pope
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complex staff efficient at their delicate tasks." It is doubt- 1938-1939,3: 2340-2341, pis. 1193-1194, and in King and Sylvester
ful that such expensive and delicate rugs were ever intend- 1983, pi. 65, 91.
ed as floor coverings; Dimand noted that silk carpets were 10. This rug is illustrated in Erdmann 1966, fig. 183.
often mentioned as throne covers and wall hangings in 11. No. 58.46, illustrated in Walker 1994,107, fig. 4.
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early descriptions of Safavid palaces. A quatrefoil medal-

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