Blog 17 07/09/2015 Persian carpets: The Golden Age of Carpet Weaving.
Persian carpets: The Golden Age of Carpet Weaving.
Detail of Persian carpet
Timurid carved pottery border tile from Central Asia. late 14th century.
When we think of Persian carpets, for most of us, it conjures up images of rich silk carpets and legends of 100I Nights and flying carpets. At its height, Persian weaving certainly did surpass all that had gone before it and in their heyday they were some of the most sophisticated carpets ever woven. Unlike Turkish carpets which can trace their development from before 1300 to the present day, Persia is quite different. During the 16th century, we suddenly see an unparalleled abundance of magnificent floral carpets, yet prior to that there is no evidence of what must have been a great tradition. Curvilinear designs were known long before the Pazyryk carpet (mentioned on my previous blog) and the famous ‘Spring of Chosroes’ carpet, even if it was a kelim, must have incorporated curvilinear patterns. Early Egyptian tapestries of the 6th to 10th century retain curvilinear elements and early fragments of true knotted carpets tied with the Spanish knot have also been discovered in Egypt attributed to Coptic weavers. By the 13th century the fully fledged arabesque was known to Persian designers especially in tiles, painting and manuscripts, yet there is no evidence available to indicate the use of these patterns in carpet design until the 15th century.
Detail from a Timurid manuscript.
During the Timurid period (1370-1507) designs in Persia closely resembled those of Turkey; predominantly repeating geometric patterns. Towards the end of the 15th century designs became more curvilinear and floral motifs began to appear. In the early Safavid period, weaving was elevated to the level of court taste and the vast repertoire of book illumination and painting became a major source of design. To understand the development of design in general in Persia, it is important to understand the various invasions by other empires which shaped its culture. In 1220, Persia was attacked by the Mongol armies of Ghengis Khan. His grandson, Hulagu, founded the Il-Khanid dynasty in 1256. During this period, the great flowering of Persian art began. Baghdad became Hulagu’s winter residence and Tabriz, his summer residence. In the 14th century, Tamerlane, himself a Mongol, united Persia with Turkestan and the capitals became Tabriz and Samarkand. One of his grandsons founded the great library at Herat and another established a centre of learning at Shiraz. The magnificent Blue Mosque at Tabriz was built during this period. It is generally considered that it was “from the east” that carpet making is thought to have begun. Thus the influence of the Mongols in Persian art cannot be underestimated. The Chinese Sui Annals (A.D.590 – 617) mention woollen carpets being produced in Persia and in A.D. 638, and carpets were being produced there when the Sassanian King Chosroes II was defeated by the Byzantine Emperor Heraklios. Chosroes’ carpet, found at his palace at Ctesiphon, is said to have been brocaded with gold and silver thread and studded with jewels and pearls. Because of its size and weight which is calculated to have weighed over two tons, it is thought that it could not have been woven in one piece and was probably a flat-weave.
Shah Namah. Book of Kings 1
When studying Persian weaving, as for the study of Persian illumination, the most important manuscript is the famous Demotte Shah Nameh, named after the New York art dealer who divided it up after failing to sell it complete. The rugs depicted are similar to Caucasian weaving of the time. The same goes for illustrations in the Divan (Book of Poems), a later manuscript. After the Mongol invasion, the style changed dramatically. The Mongols brought with them a liking of Chinese art with its naturalistic rendering of animals, flowers and birds together with more well established symbolic motifs. It was under the Timurid dynasty that Chinese art had a profound effect on the development of Persian culture. In the last two decades of the 15th century, we find the first examples of this change in weaving. The new style, which first made its appearance in book illustrations and bindings, is characterized by scrolling leaves and blossoms, peonies, pomegranate palmettes and interlaced with geometric motifs and arabesques. In some designs imagined beasts such as wild cats, dragons. Phoenixes, birds and deer appear. By this time the great seats of learning were at Baghdad, Tabriz, Shiraz, Bokhara and Samarkand. The Timurid capital was at Herat (now Afghanistan) and Chinese influence through trade was important. For 15th century Persian artists, China was as important as Italy was for European artists in the 18th and 19th century. From miniatures produced at the time, it appears that Herat was the centre of carpet weaving. In turn, oriental textiles were making an appearance in Europe and there have been several tombs discovered which contain Persian weavings and silk from central Asia.
Shah Abbas I
It was under the Safavids that Persian art reached its height. The Safavids began their conquest of Persia in 1499 but it was under the rulers, Shah Tahmasp and Shah Abbas I, that we see the development of what is known as the golden age of Persian art. Both of these rulers – the latter a carpet weaver himself – established several royal factories, the major centres bing Kashan, Kerman, Isfahan (Shah Abbas’ capital), Josheghan and Tabriz although other factories were established at Yezd, Shiraz, Herat and Sabzawar. Under Imperial patronage, rugs were designed by the leading artists of the day. Carpet weaving now ceased to be the product of a nomadic and village way of life and instead, became a highly sophisticated art form. With this change, designers were given free rein to move away from established patterns as the Imperial government now required a new type of rug to furnish palaces, government buildings and for diplomatic gifts. By the mid 16th century, carpets were also being commissioned by European nobility.
The Ardebil Carpet c. 1522/23
Medallion Carpets: One of the earliest of the new designs was the medallion carpet. Of these, three bear the dates before 1600 and are among the finest carpets of their type ever produced. Two Ardebil carpets, one in the V&A Museum and the other in the L.A. County Museum, (the latter a gift of j. Paul Getty) and the Hunting Carpet in the Poldi Pozzoli Museum in Milan. Another, the Vienna Hunting Carpet, once in the Hapsburg royal collection, is of the medallion and corner type. This Imperial silk carpet is considered to be the finest surviving example of silk weaving from 16thcentury Kashan, possibly after a design by Sultan Muhammad, Shah Tahmasp’s court painter. It is 22’ x 10’6. The Ardebils once covered the tomb of Shah Ismail, founder of the Safavid dynasty, and were brought to Europe in the 19th century. The V&A Museum purchased one of them in 1893 for GB2,000. It measures 37’x17’6”, has a silk warp and weft and a wool pile with 297-324 knots per square inch. The L.A. carpet has 380-420 knots per square inch. The inscription on the Ardebil carpets reads:
Detail of the Ardebil
‘Except for thy heaven, there is no refuge for me in this world;
Other than here, there is no place in my head.
The work of a servant of the court, Maqsud of Kashan, 946’
Here the date relates to 946 of the Hejira (1522/23) It is thought that it’s maker, Maqsud el Kashani, took fifteen years to weave it.
Detail of hunting carpet
Vase Carpets: Unlike medallion carpets, these have a design which is directional only. One of the finest examples is in the Baltimore Museum. It is one of a pair;the other was destroyed by fire in Berlin in the Second World War – as sadly, were other priceless carpets destroyed throughout Europe at this time. Vase carpets often have rows of animals, equestrian hunters, flowering plants, shrubs and trees and are intended to give a birds-eye view of a wooded landscape.
Vase carpet
Floral Carpets: Mostly attributed to the city of Herat once in the Persian province of Khorassan. The dominant theme of Safavid weaving is a garden; the idea of a garden in perpetual springtime – flowers, trees, the sound of water and birds. Birds, serrated leaf forms and a multitude of flowers appear in these carpets. Verses from leading poets of the day also make an appearance.
Silk animal carpet. mid 16th century. Silk warp weft and pile. Kashan
Polonaise Carpets: So called as a result of the Paris International Exhibition of 1878 in which a silk carpet from a Polish collection (the Czartoryski), and now in the Metropolitan Museum, was exhibited and thought to be of Polish workmanship. The label “Polonnaise” stuck but they are Persian Safavid carpets and can be traced back to diplomatic gifts in the 17thcentury. It appears that at this time, the polish King, Sigismund Vasa III, also instructed an Armenian merchant to visit Kashan and purchase silk carpets and tapestries. Highly prized, they were woven with silk and gold and silver thread. Interlacing leaf forms dominate the field and both the field and borders are interspersed with palmettes and flowers.
“Polonaise” Carpet.
Tree and Shrub Carpets: Flowering branches of Cypresses, flowering trees and shrubs form a dense floral pattern. Like the vase carpets, they are directional. This style became popular among Mughal weavers where they took on their own distinct naturalistic form.
Tree of Life
From The Embroiderer
Chapter Three. Constantinople 1912.
The sign writer attached a small brass plaque to the wall at the side of the door. In finely engraved script, it read:
LA MAISON DU L’ORIENT
MADAME SOPHIA LASKARIS
HAUTE COUTURE
He gave the plaque a final polish until it gleamed in the afternoon sun. No sooner had he finished when she saw her grandmother’s phaeton arrive in front of her premises. Out of it stepped Iskender, Dimitra’s longstanding bodyguard and manservant. A tall, dark and altogether formidable figure, he was always dressed in an embroidered waistcoat made especially for him by Dimitra, baggy black trousers and a crimson fez that matched the crimson sash around his waist in which he kept his pistol and a dagger.
Under Iskender’s watchful eye, several porters uncovered two enormous carpets and carried them through the door. Sophia recognized them. They were a matching pair of richly colored carpets from Kashan. These rare and beautiful carpets were a gift from one of the ruling Qajar princes to Sophia’s grandmother in appreciation for his young bride’s wedding dress. When Sophia informed her family of her intentions to open the new salon, Dimitra declared they were to be given to her as a gift for her hard work. Woven in silk, the designs were of stylized hunting scenes depicting huntsmen on horseback pursuing lions, leopards, and other animals in a field of floral arabesques. Richly colored, they were among the most luxurious carpets she had ever seen. She recalled her grandmother teaching her as a child, the intricacies of dyeing and of her astonishment on learning that such rich and diverse colors came from plants and berries: the remarkable range of reds, from pink through to brilliant scarlet and a deep brown-purple from madder root; extremely light-fast yellows from the Resida lutoeola plant; and for blue nothing surpassed indigo, a root first cultivated in the Indian subcontinent.
‘Observe nature,’ Dimitra used to say. ‘It gives us our richest gifts.’
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