#ardabil carpet

[darkeyecircless]

Maqsud Kasahani, Ardabil Carpet, 1540, Iran. Wool and silk, 34'6" x 17' 7". Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

[brassmanticore]

"Ardabil Carpet" by Unknown - http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/a/ardabil-carpet. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

The Safavids, who ruled without a break until 1722, promoted the shrine of the Shaykh as a place of pilgrimage. In the late 1530s, Isma'il's son, Shah Tahmasp, enlarged the shrine, and it was at this time, too, that the carpet was made as one of a matching pair

The completion of the carpets was marked by a four-line inscription placed at one end. The first two lines are a poetic quotation that refers to the shrine as a place of refuge:

'Except for thy threshold, there is no refuge for me in all the world. Except for this door there is no resting-place for my head.'

The third line is a signature, 'The work of the slave of the portal, Maqsud Kashani.' Maqsud was probably the court official charged with producing the carpets. He was not necessarily a slave in the literal sense but called himself one to express humility, while the word for 'portal' can be used for a royal court or a shrine. Perhaps Maqsud meant both, as in this case the court was the patron of the shrine.

The fourth line contains the date 946 in the Muslim calendar, which is equivalent to AD 1539 - 1540.

The two Ardabil carpets were still in the shrine of Shaykh Safi al-Din in 1843, when one was seen by two British visitors. Thirty years or more later, the shrine suffered an earthquake, and the carpets were sold off, perhaps to raise funds for repairs. The damaged carpets were purchased in Iran by Ziegler & Co., a Manchester firm involved in the carpet trade. Parts of one carpet were used to patch the other. The result was one 'complete' carpet and one with no border.

In 1892, the larger carpet was put on sale by Vincent Robinson & Co. of London. The designer William Morris went to inspect it on behalf of this Museum. Reporting that the carpet was 'of singular perfection … logically and consistently beautiful', he urged the Museum to buy it. The money was raised, and in March 1893 the Museum acquired the carpet for £2000.

The second, smaller carpet was sold secretly to an American collector, and in 1953 it was given to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The Ardabil carpet hung on the wall in this gallery for many years. In 2006, the Museum created the extraordinary case in the centre of the gallery so that the carpet could be seen as intended, on the floor. To preserve its colours, it is lit for ten minutes on the hour and half-hour.

History of the Ardabil Carpet (V&A)

[floradelights]

Detail from "The Ardabil Carpet". Part of the central medallion & one of the two mosque lamps, mid-16th century.

[girlfriendontherun]

The detail fragment of the incredible Ardabil Carpet at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. One of the most beautiful artifacts of the Islamic art I’ve seen at the V&A. When you stand in front of it, it feels like magic. 

[carrscracker]

[theenlightenedphilistine]

Maqsud of Kashan, Carpet from the Funerary Mosque of Shaykh Safi al-Din, Ardabil, Iran, 1540

Commonly referred to as the Ardabil Carpet, this carpets purchase by the Victoria & Albert Museum helped establish Islamic carpets as an art historical topic of study.  The carpet is one of only three signed and dated carpets from the Safavid period in Iran.  The 25 million knot carpet utilized a woolen pile and silk warp and weft.  Created under the reign of Shah Tahmasp, the great patron of the arts, it was likely mean for the shrine of Safi-al Din, the Suffi Shahyk and founder of the Safavid dynasty.  One major indication of its suggested placement is the lack of figural imagery which a secular piece would have had.  It also has a couple inscribed in it, by the 14th century poet Hafiz, referring to a threshold, likely a shrine.  The design, from which a cartoon was made, is the vault of heaven reflected on a pool of lotus blossoms.  The sunburst light and lamps signify the presence of God.  Also believed to be part of a pair, Maqsud's famous textile helped establish Islamic carpets as a true artistic practice in the eyes of the West.

(image courtesy of jozan.net)