Page 330 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

1942.9-476 (C-329)
Arabesque Band Carpet

"Indo-Persian" type, India or Persia, c. 1650
Wool pile on cotton warp and weft, 10.770 x 4.090 (424 x
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161 [161 at bottom of carpet, 157 at top, 158 /2 in center])
Widener Collection

TECHNICAL NOTES
Warp: cotton, Z4S, ivory. Alternate warps depressed. Weft: cot- the Herat-type carpets belonging to the maharajah of
ton, 2Z, ecru (semi-bleached) x 3. Pile: wool, 2Z. Asymmetrical Jaipur had been made in India, even though the invento-
knotting open at the left. Hor. 11 Vert. nVi. 125 knots to the ries specifically noted that some examples were of for-
square inch. The ends are cut. Sides: Two cables of (Z4S)4Z, eign manufacture. Authorities now classify the group as
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both weft attached; the wool overcasting is a replacement. "Indo-Isfahan" or "Indo-Persian," terms that reflect the
Colors: ivory: several shades of brown, tan, wine red, pink, yel-
low-orange, flesh, several shades of green, various shades of theory that they could have been produced in India after
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blue. The strong color variations in the lac ground arose from designs based on Safavid prototypes.
the successive use of wool from different dye lots, whose ten- There can be no doubt that Indo-Persian carpets were
dency to fade at a variable rate resulted in the appearance of commercial products based on the Herat type that were
narrow bands of a darker hue. This carpet was cleaned and mass-manufactured and available in a full range of sizes
repaired by Neshan G. Hintilian & Co., Washington, in 1955. (the largest exceed fifty feet in length). Their fields usual-
Severely worn, it has extensive rewoven and patched areas, and ly consist of an intricate network of intersecting vine
hardly any of the original pile is left. There is a slit at the upper scrolls, Herat-type palmettes, and cloudbands arranged
end. The back is weathered. in a seemingly infinite variety of configurations. They
often have rich, blue-red grounds that appear to be
PROVENANCE
duke of Braganza, Lisbon, Portugal. 1 (Vitall and Leopold derived from lac, the cochineal-like dye produced in
Benguiat, New York); sold 18 February 1900 to Peter A. B. India, along with blue-green and, to a lesser extent, blue
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Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheri- main borders. Most have ivory four-ply cotton warps
tance from Estate of Peter A. B. Widener, by gift through power (with the exception of higher-grade specimens with silk
of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. warps) and unbleached two-ply cotton wefts, which cross
three times after each row of knots. Walker has recently
HIS CARPET BELONGS TO A CATEGORY that Constitutes argued that these characteristics "are technically more
Tthe largest group of surviving antique Oriental rugs. closely related to Persian products" and attributed the
Extremely popular in seventeenth-century Europe and Indo-Persian class to that country. 9 Concentrations of
often featured in paintings of the period, a carpet is these carpets are preserved in the churches and noble
draped over the table in Philippe de Champaigne's Omer houses of Portugal and Spain, while others like the
Talon of 1649 from the National Gallery collection Widener carpet were acquired in those countries by the
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(1952.5.35). During the early part of this century these Benguiats and sold abroad. A considerable number are
carpets were sold by dealers such as the Benguiats to found in England. 10 The frequent appearance of Indo-
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wealthy Americans who used them as floor coverings ; in Persian carpets in paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and
1926 Pope estimated that there were over two thousand Dutch genre artists indicates that they were immensely
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examples in the United States. For no apparent reason popular in seventeenth-century Flanders and Holland. 11
other than to enhance their salability, many, including Portugal, England, and Holland all maintained extensive
this one, were identified as "Isfahans" during the late trade relations with both India and Persia through their
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Gratuitously East India Companies, so the provenance of these pieces
associated with Shah Abbas' capital city, they were dated yields little information on their origin. As early as 1571
to a century or more earlier than when they were more carpets listed in Spanish royal inventories are described as
likely to have been woven. E R. Martin, followed by having characteristics identical to Indo-Persians. They
Ktihnel, Pope, Erdmann, and Dimand, attributed them were called "de la India de Portugal," an expression that
to Herat because their predominately floral field designs implies that they had been exported from India by
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emulated the designs of carpets associated with that city. 5 Portuguese traders. The putative Indian or Persian ori-
As early as 1905, however, Hendley had concluded that gin of the Indo-Persian class has yet to be resolved.

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