Imperial Puzzle: Sixteenth-century Persian Spiral Carpets

SAFAVID PERSIAN CARPETS

1

imperial

puzzle SIXTEENTH-CENTURY PERSIAN SPIRAL VINE CARPETS WITH ANIMALS CHRISTINE KLOSE

As a posthumous tribute to one of the most prolific independent carpet scholars of her generation, we publish Dr Klose’s final ICOC paper, given in Istanbul in 2007, in which she reconstructs the extent of a highly regarded design type of early Safavid ‘Hunting’ carpets through a comparative survey of known carpets and carpet fragments, some previously unpublished.

66 HALI ISSUE 170

CARPETS OF THIS WELL-KNOWN CLASSICAL PERSIAN type from the early Safavid period in the 16th century have patterns of flowers, cloudbands, animals, and spiralling vine systems. At least nine carpets of the group (I-IX) are known, based on five design cartoon variations (A-E). Their place of origin has not been conclusively determined: workshops in the cities of Herat, Esfahan and Kashan have all been suggested, but documents offering definite proof are lacking.

Only three of the nine identifiable early ‘spiral vine carpets with animals’ now survive complete. They are the famous pair of so-called Emperors’ carpets (cartoon A), both formerly in the Habsburg Imperial Collection (see HALI 31, 1986, p.14). These beautiful carpets were, by unverifiable tradition, diplomatic gifts from Tsar Peter the Great of Russia (r.1682-1725) to the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I (r.1658-1705). Now separated, today they are preserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York 1, and the Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst (MAK) in Vienna 2. Also in the MAK, the third complete example of the group (cartoon B), is in very poor condition 3.

At least six further examples of the spiral vine with animals group can be identified from more than two dozen additional original fragments and sections – some of which have been incorporated into pieced, reassembled and rewoven carpets – that are distributed among a number of international collections. Regrettably such classical carpets were seldom if ever properly documented before they were cut into pieces.

In this study I have attempted to arrange the surviving fragments according to their pattern groups and describe how they fit together, illustrating their probable placement on the original carpets. As far as is possible, I have reconstructed the images of the carpets as they would originally have appeared.

All nine known spiral vine carpets with animals have many features in common. They are elongated in format, being more than twice as long as they are wide. The largest examples measure some seven and a half by three and a half metres (24' x 12'). Shared structural characteristics include asymmetrically knotted fine woollen (pashmina?) pile, open to the left, and the exclusive use of silk for the warps, which are on two levels due to the fineness of the knotting and other technical traits. Knot density varies between about 3,000 to 5,000 knots per square decimetre (circa 200-325/square inch).

There are always three weft shoots between each row of knots.

The weft materials are not uniform: the seven carpets woven from cartoons A and B have three-strand silk wefts; in the other three (cartoons C, D and E) the outer wefts are wool while the middle one is cotton. A large number of colours is employed, between twelve and eighteen.

The spiral vine carpets with animals all have saturated red grounds. Their field patterns are symmetrical in all essential details on both vertical and horizontal axes, so to create the complete design a quarter can be quadrupled by two-fold mirroring. The design elements of the field are carried on two spiral vine systems in different colours, on two levels, offset from each other by half a spiral unit both horizontally and vertically 4. The upper system (blue in the sketch but darker on the carpets) includes, in the vertical direction, three linked spirals in each quarter of the field.

Seeing the spirals on the carpets themselves an be quite difficult because they are overlaid by so many different motifs, especially floral arrangements of various sizes. Large palmettes are juxtaposed with paired cloudbands. Many identifiable animals as well as fantastic creatures from Chinese mythology are placed in a variety of orientations. They appear individually, often in hunting posture, ready to pounce, or in pairings of felines attacking prey animals. These are indeed hunting scenes despite the absence of human hunters. A few beasts are placed within palmettes, and some flower heads bear lion masks.

The border systems of the group consist of a relatively wide main stripe flanked by narrow guard stripes. The patterning of

Photo: © Lois Lammerhuber

SAFAVID PERSIAN CARPETS

2 CARPETS I & II

Habsburg Collection

1928-1943; Metro-

24'5"). Tsar Peter the

1 The New York Emp-

1698-1921; Museum

politan Museum of

Great by tradition until

erors’ Carpet (detail),

für Kunst & Industrie

Art, New York, Rogers

1698; Habsburg

Safavid Persia, 16th

1921-25; Cardinal &

Fund, 43.121.1

Collection 1698-1922;

century. 3.39 x 7.60m

Harford 1925-28;

2 The Vienna Emper-

Museum für Kunst

(11'1" x 24'11"). Tsar

Arthur Upham Pope

ors’ Carpet, Safavid

und Industrie/Museum

Peter the Great by

for Edith Rockefeller

Persia, 16th century.

für angewandte Kunst,

tradition until 1698;

McCormick, Chicago

3.50 x 7.44m (11'6" x

Vienna, MAK T 8334

HALI ISSUE 170 67

SAFAVID PERSIAN CARPETS

bird

3 CARPET III Safavid spiral vine carpet with animals, Persia, 16th century.

3.08 x 7.32m (10'1" x

st ag

chil in

24'1"). MAK, Vienna,

bird

T 8376 4 Diagram of a quarter of the field of a spiral vine carpet ing vine systems on

ch il

two levels in different colours. The systems are offset from each

in

leopard

wo lf

with animals show-

lion o cow n

other by half a spiral unit both horizontally and vertically. The upper system (blue)

tiger

shows three linked spirals in each quarter of the field.

Ib ex

5 Detail of 7 showing the ivory-ground main border with wide undulating red strapwork arabesque bands bearing dark

o ard leop le el gaz

blue and dark green palmettes facing in alternate directions

n

characteristic of carpets III-VII

d bir

lion

6 CARPET IV. Eight fragments are shown in the reconstruction. The

bird

purple sections

in g in flam n chil o n lio

g do

represent the three 4

joined pieces that make up the MATAM composite carpet in border fragments in the Washington Textile Museum 8, and another in a North American private collection 11 are shown in blue.

A small borderless

Photo: © MAK/Georg Mayer

Milan 7. Two joined

3

field section in the David Collection, Copenhagen 9, and a mirror image piece

the borders is not consistent. Three primary border design variants are preserved, and the guard stripes too show several different patterns. The corners are always perfectly resolved.

with inner and main borders from the Oriental Art Museum in Turin 10, are marked in orange and brown respectively

68 HALI ISSUE 170

CARPETS I-II, THE EMPERORS’ CARPETS (CARTOON A) This pair 1, 2 are the largest carpets in the group and have the finest drawing. Their impressive dark green-ground main border, decorated with cloudbands, arabesques and spiral vines, is particularly richly drawn. Unusually in carpets, the central cloudband motif in each border is distinguished by its larger size, careful symmetry and rectilinear alignment. The inner guard borders bear yellow inscription cartouches, barely legible, of verses including praises of the Shah, suggesting that these carpets were probably made for the monarch.

The outer red-ground borders show cloudbands over a vine decorated with flowers. The borders do not cut through any of the field motifs. (See also ‘Masterpiece’ this Issue.)

5

CARPETS III-VI (CARTOON B) The most important difference between carpets made from cartoons A and B is the primary border design. Only very slight differences between the cartoons can be seen in the treatment of some animal motifs in the field. Cartoon B pieces have identical ivory-ground main borders with wide, undulating red strap-work arabesque bands bearing dark blue, dark green and occasional gold palmettes facing in alternate directions 5.

Given its close similarity to the Emperors’ carpets and its design symmetry, we know that carpet 111 in Vienna 3, although damaged and missing minor areas along its central vertical axis, is essentially complete. It is thus possible to determine the dimensions and design characteristics of cartoon B carpets and theoretically to complete missing areas. Using carpet III as a guide, some twenty known cartoon B fragments can be positioned on three further carpets (IV-VI) with some certainty.

Carpet IV is a counterpart to carpet III. Eight surviving fragments are marked on the drawn reconstruction 6. The most impressive three sections (purple), have been reassembled into what is sometimes known as the Bacri carpet 7, now with MATAM in Milan. The full original width of the field is preserved, but not its length. The middle section is missing and the carpet is sewn together from the original upper and lower sections along an inverted arch-shaped seam. The lower part of the left border was acquired separately in 1996 and put back in place. The rest of the left border is rewoven.

However, additional original parts of carpet IV exist that fit into the some of the spaces left by the Milan carpet. Two joined border fragments in the Textile Museum in Washington DC 8,

SAFAVID PERSIAN CARPETS

7

6 CARPET IV CONTD.

in 1996 (HALI 90,

9 Field fragment

7 Safavid spiral vine

p.124) and reinstated.

from carpet IV. 0.27

carpet with animals,

Formerly Bacri Frères,

x 0.58m (11" x 1'11").

Persia, 16th century.

Paris; The Textile

David Collection, Copenhagen, 5/1973.

2.75 x 3.85m (9'0" x

Gallery, London; Wher

12'7"). The full field

Collection, Lugano.

10 Field, inner and

width is preserved,

MATAM Collection,

main border fragment

but the middle section

Milan, courtesy Moshe

from carpet IV. 1.10 x

is missing and the

Tabibnia Gallery, Milan

0.60m (3'7" x 2'0").

composite carpet is

8 Two joined main and

Museo d'arte Orien-

sewn together from

inner border fragments

tale, Turin, MAO ISt/1

the original upper and

from carpet IV. 0.71 x

11 Main and inner

lower sections. The

0.79m (2'4" x 2'7").

border fragment

lower left border

The Textile Museum,

from carpet IV. 0.38

section, measuring

Washington DC,

x 1.24m (1'3" x 4'1").

0.40 x 1.67m (1'4" x

acquired by George

Marshall & Marilyn

5'6"), was acquired

Hewitt Myers in

R. Wolf Collection,

separately at auction

1952, R 33.4.15

Toronto

8

10

9

11 HALI ISSUE 170 69

Photo: Š Victoria & Albert Museum, London

SAFAVID PERSIAN CARPETS

12

15 CARPET V 12 Safavid spiral vine carpet with animals, Persia, 16th century. This composite carpet is assembled from 16

three fragments of carpet V (purple).

3.05 x 3.76m (10'0" x 12'4"). Victoria & Albert Museum,

Photo: Moya Carey

London, purchased

13 70 HALI ISSUE 170

14

from Mrs Spencer Brunton, London, VAM 601-1894 13 Field section of carpet 17

V

comprising

Photo: © MAK/Georg Mayer

SAFAVID PERSIAN CARPETS

19

20

21

and another in a North American private collection 11 are shown in brown. The inner border on these fragments is the same as that seen on carpets III and V so we may reasonably assume that the outer border too was the same. Two further fragments survive from the lower half of the carpet – a small borderless piece in the David Collection, Copenhagen 9 (red) and a mirror-image piece with inner and main borders from the Museum of Oriental Art in Turin 10 (orange).

Carpet V is a second pendant to carpet III. The reconstruction shows ten surviving sections 15 . The composite carpet in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London 12 is made up from three pieces sewn together (purple). The full width and both ends are preserved. A piece formerly in the Edward James Foundation, Chichester 13 is sewn together from two adjacent fragments to form a section that comprises about a third of the 18 two adjacent frag-

unknown. Hand-col-

in the V&A (red)

CARPET VI

19 Corner section

21 Central field

ments (blue) sewn

oured photograph after

16 Field fragment

18 Safavid spiral vine

of carpet VI. 1.35 x

quarter section of

together. 1.23 x

Mumford 1910, no.3.

of carpet V. 0.66 x

carpet with animals,

1.81m (4'5" x 5.11").

carpet VI. In this

2.22m (4'0" x 7'3").

15 Carpet V comprises

0.44m (2'2" x 1'5").

Persia, 16th century.

Formerly Constan-

composite section,

Formerly Edward

ten fragments: three

Formerly Joseph

Carpet

tinople art market

the narrow blue-

James Foundation,

large pieces sewn

Aynard Collection.

three fragments: a

(1891); Museum für

ground inner border

Chichester, Sussex;

together in the V&A

Musée des Arts

complete corner piece

Kunst und Industrie,

fragments, which

Oliver Hoare, London.

composite carpet

Décoratifs, Paris,

at the MAK in Vienna

Vienna; KK Handels-

come from the left

Private collection

(purple) 12; two joined

acquired in 1914,

(blue) 19; another

Museum, Vienna.

vertical side of the

field pieces formerly in

MAD 19417

corner piece 20, and

Österreichisches

field, have been incor-

comprising field and

Chichester (blue) 13;

17 Lower right field

a near complete lower

Museum für ange-

rectly reattached to

outer border frag-

three Yerkes field and

fragment of carpet v.

right field quarter 21,

wandte Kunst, Vienna,

the central axis of

ments (brown). 0.82

guard stripe fragments

0.87 x 0.63m (2'10"

both in Liberec

Or 1981/1907 HM

the field fragment.

x 1.93m (2'8" x 6'4").

(brown) 14; a small

x 2'1"). Victoria &

(purple). The three

20 Corner section of

0.96 x 3,10m (3'2"

Formerly Charles T.

field fragment in the

Albert Museum,

fragments show that

carpet VI. 1.24 x 0.74m

x 10'2"). North

Yerkes Collection;

MAD, Paris (orange)

London, given by

the guard stripes on

(4'1" x 2'5"). North

Bohemia Museum,

Captain J.R. De Lamar.

16; and another small

Mrs Spencer Brunton,

carpet VI differed from

Bohemia Museum,

Liberec, Czech

Present whereabouts

lower field fragment

VAM 38-1892

those on carpets III-V.

Liberec, T3685

Republic, T3684

14 Section of carpet

V

VI

consists of

HALI ISSUE 170 71

Photo: Š Victoria & Albert Museum, London

SAFAVID PERSIAN CARPETS

22 CARPET VII 22 Safavid spiral vine carpet with animals, field and inner border section of carpet VII. Persia, 16th century.

1.88 x 1.20m (6'2" x 3'11"). Victoria & Albert Museum, London, purchased from Stanislas Baron, Paris, VAM 670-1896 23 Composite Safavid carpet incorporating the Bernheimer fragment 25,16th20th century. 1.77 x 4.05m (5'10" x 13'3").

Formerly De Motte, Paris. The Textile Museum, Washington DC, acquired by George Hewitt Myers in 1926, TM R33.4.11 24 Carpet

VII

consists

24

of two large original sections, both with the full field width and the inner minor border. One is in the V&A, London 22 (purple), while the ex-Bernheimer fragment 25 (blue) is now part of the largely rewoven De Motte/ Myers carpet in the Textile Museum 23 25 Field and inner border section of carpet

VII.

Formerly

Bernheimer, Munich.

After Sarre & Martin, Mesiterwerke Muhammedanischer Kunst, supplementary volume, Munich 1912, no.22 23 72 HALI ISSUE 170

25

SAFAVID PERSIAN CARPETS CARPET VIII 26 Safavid spiral vine carpet with animals, Persia, 16th century.

Carpet

VIII

comprises

two large field and border fragments, one in the Hamburg Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe 27 (purple), the other in a private collection 28 (blue).

The carpet is cut along the horizontal axis with parts of the right hand vertical border sewn to the cut side of both sections as horizontal borders. A narrow full length strip is missing from both pieces 27 Section of field and borders of carpet VIII.1.86

x 3.15m (6'1"

x 10'4"). Formerly Ulrich Schürmann, Cologne, for the Campe sche Historische Kunststiftung, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, 1967.123.

27

After Hempel & Preysing Alte OrientTeppiche, Hamburg 1970, no.3 28 Section of field and borders of carpet

VIII.

Formerly Réné de St. Marceaux Collection, Paris 1903; Julius Böhler, Munich. After After Sarre & Martin, Mesiterwerke Muhammedanischer

26

field next to the left hand border (blue). The others are the composite Yerkes/De Lamar field and guard border fragments (brown), present location unknown 14, a small field fragment (orange) from the Joseph Aynard Collection in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris 16, and a small lower field fragment (red), also in the V&A 17, which was acquired in the 1890s from the same source, Mrs Spencer Brunton, as the composite carpet.

The James, Yerkes/De Lamar and Aynard pieces fit together and all form part of the same original carpet as the V&A sections.

Carpet VI 18 may be reconstructed from three known fragments: a large corner piece in Vienna 19 (blue) showing the full border system, as well as another complete corner 20 and an almost complete lower right field quarter 21, from the North Bohemia Museum in Liberec, formerly Reichenberg, in the Czech Republic (purple). These fragments show that the guard stripes on carpet VI were of a different design to those seen on carpets III-V. Both inner and outer guards show a vine decorated with arabesques, the outer red-ground stripe being somewhat more elegant. On the left vertical side of the Liberec field quarter section, the blue-ground inner border has been sewn incorrectly on the central axis of the fragment, not to the side of the field where it belongs.

Kunst, supplementary volume, Munich 1912, no.21. Private collection.

28 HALI ISSUE 170 73

SAFAVID PERSIAN CARPETS CARPET IX 29 Safavid spiral vine carpet with animals, field and inner border section comprising two joined fragments of carpet IX. Persia, 16th century, 1.07 x 1.88m (3'6" x 6'2").

Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, purchased at auction in 1888. MAD 4457 30 Field and inner border section of carpet IX. 1.07 x 1.98m (3'6" x 6”6").

Victoria & Albert Museum, London, VAM 579-1884 31 Carpet

VIII

comp-

rises two mirrorimage field, main and inner border sections.

The first, in the MAD, Paris (blue), is itself made up of two joined fragments with a small strip between missing 29.

A second section is in the V&A (purple) 30.

31

Both axes and the main and inner borders survive, so it is

29

possible to reconstruct the carpet by double mirror imaging to a full width of over two metres and a length of about three metres. About half a metre is missing from

Photo: © Victoria & Albert Museum, London

each end of the field

30

74 HALI ISSUE 170

CARPET VII (CARTOON C) A third cartoon, albeit one very similar to the previous two, was used for the field design of carpet VII 24, which can be reconstructed from two field and inner border fragments. We do not know what the main and outer borders looked like.

One fragment is in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London 22.

Its original placement is marked in purple. The other known fragment, exhibited in Munich in 1910 and published by Sarre and Martin in 1912, is a field and inner border section, at that time in the Bernheimer Collection 25. It shows both design axes, lacking only a short vertical span. Then, in 1926, in Arthur Upham Pope’s Art Club of Chicago exhibition and catalogue, there appeared a large, mainly rewoven carpet, lacking main and outer borders, but incorporating the original 16th century Bernheimer fragment 23 (blue). No other part of the Chigago carpet, now in The Textile Museum in Washington DC, is original. As the Bernheimer fragment shows both axes, with mirror-imaging it was possible to re-create an apparently complete field with its narrow inner border. The symmetrically-knotted reweave closely follows the drawing of the fragment, though there are some unsatisfactory colours and the field length is reduced.

CARPET VIII (CARTOON D) Carpet VIII, woven from a fourth cartoon 26, comprises two large fragments, one in the Hamburg Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe 27 (purple), the other in a private collection 28 (blue).

The carpet has been cut along the horizontal axis with pieces of the right hand vertical border sewn to the cut side of both fragments as horizontal borders. In cartoon D the floral motifs at the side of the field are cut by the borders – unlike those in cartoons A, B and C – and the large palmettes are positioned parallel to the axes. No birds are found in the field, except for one pair on a large flower, nor are masks found on the flowers.

The green-ground main border shows many birds, alone and in pairs, sitting and flying between a vine with many flowers.

The yellow outer minor border also depicts birds.

SAFAVID PERSIAN CARPETS CARPET IX (CARTOON E) A fifth cartoon was used for carpet Ix 31, of which three fragments have survived, in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris 29 (blue) and in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London 30 (purple).

Since the surviving parts contain both axes and the main and inner borders, we can reconstruct the carpet by double mirror imaging to a full width of over two metres and a length of about three metres. We may assume that about half a metre is missing from each end of the field.

The Paris piece is itself sewn together from two fragments.

Only a very narrow strip between is missing, as can be seen from the mirror-image London piece. The absence of cloudbands from cartoon E is especially noteworthy. The very precisely drawn animals stand out boldly from the design, and some are of a different type from those seen on the other four cartoons. The field areas that have been preserved lack birds or masks superimposed on palmettes, and the flowers at the field edges are halved. The main border is related to that seen in carpet VIII (cartoon D). Similar bird borders also occur on other Persian carpet groups.

In addition to the nine early examples mentioned above, there are both parallel and later developments of the spiral vine carpet design. Such carpets evolved along two lines. The first moves towards an ever stronger emphasis on animal representations (already emergent in cartoon E), with animal figures increasing in number and prominence, the concomitant decline of the floral vine structure, and the disappearance of the cloudbands. This can be seen, for instance, on a medallion carpet with trees and animals in the Musée Historique des Tissus, Lyons 32.

A second line of development moves towards the eventual complete disappearance of animals, while the floral pattern with double symmetrically arranged flowers and cloudbands is retained. This line of evolution seems to have passed through an intermediate stage, where only scattered birds and no animals are used in the design, as in a strapwork-bordered carpet in the Tehran Carpet Museum 33. Spiral vine carpets without animals on an all-cotton foundation were produced in great numbers well into the 18th century.

One group of related carpets has a particularly close affinity to the spiral vine carpets with animals. Most have a central medallion, but the spirals are reduced to a single layer of short vines, and there are numerous animals, both hunters and hunted, fewer floral elements (which also give way to trees) and cloudbands are usually absent. On certain related carpets double mirror symmetry has been abandoned and gives way to a directional pattern with animals. All these different carpets with animal representations belong to a tradition that was cultivated in many Persian weaving centres in the 16th and 17th centuries, where a fruitful exchange of ideas and know-how took place among the workshops.

Putting together the surviving pieces, the description of their common features and determining to which original carpets the many fragments belonged makes it possible for the first time to bring a sense of order to this material, which constitutes some of Persia’s finest classical carpet production.

I have shown that the known surviving carpets and fragments belong to at least nine spiral vine carpets with animals, of which six are woven according to the very closely similar field cartoons A and B. The other three carpets are each singletons produced using a different cartoon.

The survival of historical carpets is subject to many accidents of fate, but it seems that among the exceptionally beautiful silk foundation spiral vine carpets with animals, the closely similar designs of cartoons A and B, differing only in their borders, were the ones that were most often actually used in the court weaving atelier(s). The magnificent Emperors’ carpets, which were, according to their inscriptions, woven for the Shah, would have provided the perfect model.

32 Safavid medallion carpet with animals and trees, Persia, probably Esfahan, late 16th century.

1.60 x 2.21m (5'3" x 7'3"). Musée Historique des Tissus, Lyons, MHT 23,921 33 Safavid palmette and cloudband carpet with strapwork border, Persia, probably Esfahan, 16th century. 2.96 x 3.80m (9'9" x 12'6"), reduced. Formerly Spanish Art Galleries, London. Carpet Museum, Tehran.

After E. Gans Ruedin, Iranian Carpets: Art, Craft and History, London 1978, p.95.

32

33 HALI ISSUE 170 75