Page 40 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

THE WIDENER RUGS AND CARPETS

he Oriental carpets and rugs discussed in this catalogue were acquired by the Philadelphia magnate Peter
Arrell Brown Widener and his son and heir Joseph Early Widener as furnishings for the interior of their
Tmansion, Lynnewood Hall. According to the 1935 inventory of objets d'art, the collection originally com-
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prised twenty-six carpets and rugs. The six rarest examples came to the National Gallery of Art through Joseph
Widener's major bequest of 1942. Although some are known to specialists, they have never previously been pub-
lished or exhibited as a group.
Neither of the Wideners kept detailed curatorial records about their many acquisitions, so the exact
provenances and dates of purchase for these carpets and rugs are based on fragmentary information. The four
pieces known to have been acquired prior to 1910 probably exemplify the elder Widener's taste. Like his contem-
poraries Henry Clay Frick, J. Pierpont Morgan, and Charles T. Yerkes, Peter Widener collected both the fine and
decorative arts on a princely scale, amassing—or rather accumulating—important collections of old master paint-
ings, sculpture, tapestries, furniture, and Chinese porcelain. Advised by such early authorities as Wilhelm von Bode
and Wilhelm R. Valentiner, he bought only the most exclusive Persian Safavid and Indian Mughal court weavings.
Widener purchased the Indo-Persian carpet (1942.9.476) in 1900 from the notorious dealer Vitall "the
Pasha" Benguiat. Such carpets were popular among wealthy Americans of Widener's generation as floor coverings
because they were impressive and relatively available. This example was formerly in the library, and later the ball-
room, at Lynnewood Hall. The 1935 inventory lists fifteen other such Indo-Persian carpets (they were described
as "of the so-called Ispahan type," but attributed to "East Persia, Herat") that decorated other rooms in the man-
sion. Polonaise rugs have always attracted collectors because of their sumptuous materials. The provenance of
Widener's rare large Polonaise carpet (1942.9.473) is unknown, but records suggest that the small Polonaise rug
(1942.9.474) had been owned by Baron Rothschild, Paris (possibly Alphonse de Rothschild [1827-1905]). Widener
bought the Mughal scenic animal rug, which had formerly been owned by the Duke of Rutland, Belvoir Castle,
from Duveen Brothers in 1909. The following year he lent these three pieces to the Loan Exhibition of Early
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Oriental Rugs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Too delicate to be placed on the floor, at some later date they
were suspended from a rail on the balcony overlooking the Widener mansion's great entrance hall.
Joseph Widener had two major passions, horse racing and art collecting. His obituary described him as
a "noted turfman" who owned three horse farms, numerous champion horses, and built the famous Hialeah race-
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track in Florida during the middle of the depression. After his father's death he sold or traded many of the less
desirable pieces for paintings and decorative arts of the highest quality. Unusually discriminating and fastidious,
the younger Widener was concerned with creating an ambience appropriate for his most prized art treasures.
Evidence suggests that he bought the Herat-type medallion and animal carpet (1942.9.477) in 1922 specifically to
adorn a round room that he had built as a special milieu for Giovanni Bellini and Titian's Feast of the Gods
(1514/1529). It had formerly been the property of a Theodore Mante of Marseilles, and was purchased from
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Duveen Brothers. Described by Widener's curator as "the finest Persian rug in the house," it was installed on a
slightly raised platform in the Bellini Room, and visitors were forbidden to walk on it. In 1924 he acquired a small
silk Kashan medallion rug (1942.9.478) that had belonged to the New York railroad magnate J. Pierpont Morgan
(1837-1913) from P. W. French & Co.; it joined the others hanging in the entrance hall.
The Widener Oriental carpet and rug collection was once one of Lynnewood Hall's major attractions.
A visitor to the mansion remarked that it housed "the world's finest collection of Isfahan Persian rugs," and

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