Ardabil Carpet

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Ardabil Carpet represents either one of the famous Persian rugs that are currently held by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Finished in 1539–40 according to the dated inscriptions, during the rule of Safavid Shah Tahmasp I (1524–76), the carpets are considered some of the best of the classical Persian school of carpet creation (it was probably created in Tabriz). They were first placed in the Mosque of Ardabil, but they had been damaged in Iran and were sold to a British carpet broker in 1890 ^[1] who restored one of the carpets using the other and then sold it to the Victoria and Albert Museum. The second "secret" carpet was sold to American businessmen Clarence Mackay and was exchanged by wealthy buyers for years. It passed through the Mackay, Yerkes, and De la Marr art collections. It was eventually revealed and showed at a 1931 exposition in London. American industrialist J. Paul Getty saw it, and bought it from Lord Duveen for approximately $70,000 several years later. Getty was approached by agents on behalf of Egypt's King Farouk who offered $250,000 so that it could be given as a wedding present. Getty later donated the carpet to the Museum of Science, History, and Art in the Exposition Park in Los Angeles.^[2]

This the most famous of Persian carpets has been the subject of endless copies ranging in size from small rugs to full scale carpets. There is an 'Ardabil' at 10 Downing Street and even Hitler had an 'Ardabil' in his office in Berlin.^[3]^[4]

[edit] Appearance

The foundation is of silk and the pile of wool with a knot density at 300-350 knots per square inch ( 470-540.000 knots per square metres, i.e. 26 million total knots). The size of the carpets are 34 1/2 feet by 17 1/2 feet ( 10,5 metres x 5,3 metres).^[5]

The carpets have the following inscription (a couplet from a ghazal by Persian mythic poet Hafez), and a signature:

Other than thy threshold I have not refuge in this world.
My head has no resting place other than this doorway.
–Work of a servant of the court, Maqsud of Kashan, [in] the year 946 [1539–40 CE]

[edit] References

^ [As I See It: the Autobiography of J. Paul Getty, pg.270]
^ [As I See It: the Autobiography of J. Paul Getty, pg.271]
^ Wearden, J., The Surprising Geometry of the Ardabil Carpet, Abstracts from the Ars Textrina Conference, Leeds 1995.
^ Hillyer, L., and Pretzel, B., The Ardabil Carpet - a new perspective, V&A Museum (LINK); accessed January 29, 2007
^ The Ardabil Carpets, Exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, (LINK); accessed January 29, 2007.