Page 312 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

because it was used at the anointing of the Danish King and arabesque bands that course through a plethora of
Frederick IV, had been presented by the Dutch East India floral elements such as palmettes, rosettes, and lancet
Company to Queen Sophie Amalie in i666. 10 Because leaves. In his extensive study of the group, Friedrich
many examples were custom-made for Western clients Spuhler has described how, through the use of cartoons,
and featured European coats-of-arms woven into their the carpets were made in pairs (about twenty-five sur-
designs, and few survived in the East, a number of vive), in standardized sizes, and with uniform designs
authorities concluded that they had been produced based on about twelve different systems. 14
strictly for export. 11 Early European travelers, however, The dense, complex design and high quality of the
observed that the Safavid nobility used them as furnish- Widener Polonaise carpet render it an exceptional exam-
ings for their palaces: Tavernier noted that the Shah was ple of its type. Although the group's chronology is largely
accompanied by two attendants whose duty was to a matter of speculation, scholars generally date fine spec-
remove his shoes whenever he entered a room covered imens such as this to the early seventeenth century.
with such carpets, and to replace them when he left, and Among the extant examples of the Polonaise group, only
a British traveler described how the floors at the palace at about thirty are of the same approximate size, one that
Isfahan were "spread with carpets of silk and gold, with- probably constitutes one of the standard dimensions in
12
out other furniture." Polonaise carpets further served as which they were woven. Overlapping and intersecting
votive offerings to religious shrines: The Shah donated thin vine scrolls, whose tributaries constantly change
two rugs of the type bearing dedicatory inscriptions to color as they meander throughout the field, delineate
the Shrine of Imam Ali at Al-Najaf. 13 four large oval panels brocaded in metal. Although the
Three basic varieties of Polonaise carpets and rugs composition appears symmetrical, closer inspection
exist: The rarest have only silk pile; in others the surface reveals that the centrally placed concave diamond-shaped
is mostly silk, with the metal used sparingly for accents; lozenge containing four lotus palmettes lies closer to the
and in some the metal areas are most prominent, with carpet's lower section. In the middle of each of the four
silk pile used for accents. Both of the Widener specimens oval panels the scrollwork sets off a large silver brocaded
are of the third type. Generally speaking, these pieces had mouchette. In addition to the standard ornamental
silk wefts and cotton warps, with long silk fringes repertory of arabesques, lotus palmettes, cloudbands, and
attached at each end by a band of silk brocading. The sil- assorted floral motifs, an unusual series of small, various-
ver effect was achieved through the use of metal- ly colored jagged flames appear at points on the trans-
wrapped silk wefts. The gold color was produced by verse axis. The main border's spaciously arranged orange
gilding the silver and then wrapping the metal strip and green silk reciprocal pattern provides a powerful
around a yellow silk core. These wefts were then frame for the ornate field. The two colors are separated by
stretched horizontally over a number of warps at a time a sweeping silver vine that spreads at every turn into a
to create broad, slightly recessed expanses of gold and sil- split arabesque bloom. In each corner the vines merge to
ver whose reflective properties created a radiant, shim- form an elaborate fleur-de-lis fmial. The very narrow
mering effect. Polonaise designs exhibited a new inner guard stripe, with its small double pronged motif,
aesthetic, replacing the linear clarity associated with the and outer guard stripe containing a double sweeping
traditional sixteenth-century Safavid medallion system. vine, are found in numerous Polonaise carpets.
The compositions were usually only bilaterally symmet- Spuhler observed that a field scheme similar to that of
rical, lacking a uniform ground color. Consistent with the Widener carpet, replete with the unusual flame motifs,
the weavers' objective of maintaining a scintillating appears in a slightly smaller carpet formerly in the collec-
15
metal and silk surface, many examples possess fields of tion of Count Henry Skirmunt. The many differences in
intricate networks of elegant, curvilinear scrolling vines the details and proportions of these two related pieces

296 D E C O R A T I V E A R T S