Page 321 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

arrangement of arabesque arches that form cloudbands, by integrating them into the floral elements, and their
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its cornerpieces containing a pair of pomegranate trees overall "baroque" quality. Murray Eiland's theory that
and having a similar "strapwork" border. 17 the Widener carpet, the Seley carpet, the Clam Gallas
It is necessary to briefly discuss the different scholarly compartment carpet (Osterreichisches Museum fur
theories concerning the putative origins of the Herat angewandte Kunst, Vienna), 26 and some of the Saltings
group. Although Adam Olearius, a traveler who visited were genuine Herat products dating from the pre-
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Persia in 1637 with the embassy of the duke of Holstein- Safavid period found no adherents. Ian Bennett, who
Gottorp, documented the excellence of Herat products referred to the former Rothschild and Widener carpets in
by averring that "the best carpets in Persia are manufac- the context of his discussion on the two Herat-type
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tured there" they have only recently been identified by medallion and animal carpets in Lyons, attributed them
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historians who have found it difficult to ascribe them to all to Isfahan. Michael Franses had opined that the
a specific Safavid carpet manufacturing city with any Widener and Rothschild carpets were made in Isfahan
degree of confidence. Most early twentieth-century during the first quarter of the seventeenth century,
authorities believed that almost all early Safavid medal- "undoubtedly from the same designer and loom." 29
lion carpets of the classical period had originated in Although the Herat group lacks structural uniformity,
Tabriz. 19 At that time the Herats, genuine Northwest Ellis noted that the "decisive factor" shared by the
Persian pieces, the problematic "Salting group," 20 and Widener carpet and most of its nearest relatives is their
carpets from other production centers were indiscrimi- combination of wefts made with a shoot of sinuous cot-
nately classified together. In 1938 Pope began to differen- ton spun between two straighter shoots of red-dyed
tiate among them, attributing a type he labeled the wool, and light yellow or ivory silk warps. 30 These dis-
"Sanguszko" group to Kirman, and some animal rugs tinctive characteristics, together with coloring, animal
without medallions to Herat. 21 He opined that the forms, and border patterns suggest that the carpets were
Widener carpet had been woven at an unidentified man- woven in the same area. An exhaustive analysis of the
ufactory whose products combined both Tabriz and group's weave structure, which has yet to be performed,
Herat influences. He felt that its basic color scheme, ani- will be necessary to determine its source.
mal forms, and border pattern were derived from Herat, Because the Widener carpet's point of origin has been
while the wool, weaving, medallion design, and "brass- a matter of contention, it comes as no surprise that
yellow" color were characteristic of Tabriz. 22 In 1941 scholars have held widely divergent opinions concerning
Erdmann sorted out the "Saltings" and made additional its date of origin. At the 1913 Paris exhibition the carpet
classifications among the Herat animal rugs. 23 He was very improbably dated to the late fifteenth century;
believed that the Widener carpet had been woven at Dilley and Ettinghausen ascribed it to the early sixteenth
Herat under Northwest Persian influences, rather than century; Pope and Ackerman, followed by Kelley and
vice versa. In 1965 Ellis wrote an important article in Gentles, dated it to late in the century; and Gans-Ruedin,
which he attributed a number of carpets and fragments who attributed the carpet to North West Persia, dated it
to Herat, and analyzed their common design character- to the mid-sixteenth century. 31 Ellis posited a seven-
istics. He cited the Widener carpet as one among a group teenth-century dating, "for the sweeping bands of the
of "patently East Persian creations," and denounced the border have a clumsier treatment and several of the ani-
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Tabriz attribution as "preposterous." Speaking in more mal forms are poorly proportioned or cramped in ways
general terms, Maurice Dimand wrote that Herat carpets which one would not expect in an earlier and purer
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could be distinguished from those made at Tabriz by example of this carpet genre." Indeed, the level of arti-
virtue of their more lively and elaborate designs, stronger sanry is lower in this example than that of the presumably
colors, the tendency to put less emphasis on the animals mid-sixteenth century "Emperor" carpets. The cartouches

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