P3 has note
| - This relatively small carpet is produced with a luxurious combination of silk knotted pile design against background areas of metal brocade, creating a shimmering combination. Today the colours are reduced to light blue, pale green, cream and other light pastels, with some dark blue details: it is possible that the silk pile has faded over the centuries. This lightness conceals the refined complexity of the design itself, which is folded across a horizontal and a vertical axis – a quartered design of calculated symmetry. Ordered around a central point, two lobed pendants mirror each other at the upper and lower side. Each features a striped central roundel, embedded in floral surrounds and scrollwork. Half-medallions meet the sides of the carpet design, with large bisected lotus flowers.
Very fine carpets such as this were woven in Isfahan, Iran’s capital under the Safavid dynasty from 1598 until the fall of the Safavids in 1722. Throughout the seventeenth century, international traders from across Asia and Europe were attracted to Isfahan to buy raw silk, following an economic policy introduced by Shah ‘Abbas I. Silk carpets brocaded with precious metal thread, such as this, made impressive diplomatic gifts, as well as trading goods: examples were sent to courts and trading corporations alike, in Venice, Copenhagen and many other centres. Examples survive in international collections to this day. (en)
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