Tapestry-Woven Medallion Carpet
Early Oriental Carpets, The Art Club of Chicago, January 1926, no. 29 as So-Called Polonaise Tapestry Carpet.
Fourteenth Loan Exhibition, Detroit Institute of Arts, October 21-November 23, 1930, no. 143 as Tapestry-Woven Carpet, so-called Polish type.
Oriental Rugs and Textiles, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, May 13-September 15, 1935, no. 9 as Tapestry-woven Rug.
Exhibition of Islamic Art, M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, February 24-March 22, 1937, no. 238 as Tapestry Rug.
Antique Oriental Rugs, The Art Institute of Chicago, February 6-March 17, 1947, no. 48 as Tapestry-woven Silk Rug.
Iranian Art, Asia Institute, New York, December 1949-January 1950; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, February 9-March 31, 1950, no cat.
England’s World of 1607, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, May 17-September 1, 1957, no cat.
Echoes: Islamic Art and Contemporary Artists, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, August 31, 2013-April 27, 2014, no cat.
Weaving Splendor: Treasures of Asian Textiles, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, September 25, 2021–March 6, 2022, no cat.
This Persian carpet, and the materials that made it, traveled the globe. Three colors in the textile are made from dyes imported from the Americas. Sourced from trees in South and Central America, logwoodis used to create brown and combined with old fustic (dyer’s mulberry) to make black. Cochineal, the pigment that creates the raspberry pink (see the image below), is derived from an insect. The dark blue dye was made of indigo, which was likely sourced from India. The carpet is further decorated with gold, silver, and gilt silver wrapped threads that are woven directly into the foundational fabric (encircled in the image below).Thus, by 1600, Persian royal workshops were incorporating precious materials from around the globe.
This rare carpet — oneof fewer than sixty that survive — represents the highest achievement of royal Safavid silk weaving, and it was not for sale. This carpet was a diplomatic gift from Shah ′Abbas I (ruled1587–1628) to a Pope in Rome in the early 1600s, where it entered the Vatican treasury. Later, this textile was given to Cardinal Deacon Giacomo Antonelli (1806–1876), who kept it in his family estate in Abruzzo, Italy. It passed through cardinals and castles until the early 1900s before coming to the Nelson-Atkins.
Commissioned by Shah Abbas I (1587-1628), Iran (Persia);
His gift to a Pope, first quarter of the 17th century [1];
Gifted to Cardinal Prince Antonelli (1806-1876), Aquila (Abruzzi), Italy [2];
Sold to Marquis Dragonetti el Torres (Dragonetti family), Aquila (Abruzzi), Italy;
With Demotte, Paris, by 1923 [3];
With M. and R. Stora Gallery, New York, by 1926-1932 [4];
Purchased from M. and R. Stora Gallery by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, 1932 [5].
[1] Popes reigning between 1600 and 1625 include: Clement VIII (r. 1592-1605); Paul V (r. 1605-1621); Gregory XV (r. 1621-1623); Urban VIII (r. 1623-1644).
[2] Provenance information included in museum announcement of acquisition. See “Kansas City Acquires a Magnificent Carpet,” in Art Digest 6, no. 17 (June 1, 1932): 13; “Rare Rug to Go to Kansas City,” in Art News 30, no. 33 (May 14, 1932): 6.
[3] Arthur Upham Pope names the dealer Demotte as the owner. See Arthur Upham Pope, “Oriental Rugs as Fine Art VI. Early Turkish Rugs,” in International Studio 77, no. 311 (April 1923): 75.
[4] Arthur Upham hope names the dealer M. and R. Stora Gallery as the owner. See Arthur Upham Pope, Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Early Oriental Carpets, exh. cat. (Chicago: The Art Club of Chicago, 1926), 79.
[5] Registration documents record M. and R. Stora Gallery as the vendor.
Arthur Upham Pope, “Oriental Rugs as Fine Art VI. Early Turkish Rugs,” in International Studio 77, no. 311 (April 1923): 72, 75, (repro.).
Arthur Upham Pope, Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Early Oriental Carpets, exh. cat. (Chicago: The Art Club of Chicago, 1926), 79, pl. 29, (repro.).
The Detroit Institute of Arts, Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Mohammedan Decorative Arts, exh. cat. (Detroit, MI: The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1930), 49, 67, (repro.).
“Kansas City Acquires a Magnificent Carpet,” in Art Digest 6, no. 17 (June 1, 1932): 13, (repro.).
“Rare Rug to Go to Kansas City,” in Art News 30, no. 33 (May 14, 1932): 6, (repro.).
“Art of Far East in Nelson Gallery Provides Key to Nations,” in Art Digest 8, no. 5 (December 1, 1933): 32, (repro.).
M. S. Dimand, A Guide to an Exhibition of Oriental Rugs and Textiles, exh. cat. (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1935), xi, 21, plate 9, (repro.).
Walter Heil and Aga-Oglu Mehmet, Exhibition of Islamic Art, exh. cat. (San Francisco: M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, 1937), 64-65, plate 238, (repro.).
Arthur Upham Pope and Phyllis Ackerman, A Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Times to the Present, vol. 3 Text: Islamic Painting, Textiles, Carpets, Metalwork, Minor Arts (London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1939), 2404-405.
Arthur Upham Pope and Phyllis Ackerman, A Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Times to the Present, vol. 6 Plates 981-1482: Islamic Textiles, Carpets, Metalwork, Minor Arts (London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1939), pl. 1263, (repro.).
Arthur Upham Pope, Masterpieces of Persian Art (New York: The Dryden Press, 1945), (repro.).
Charles Fabens Kelley, “Magic Carpets from the East,” in The Art Institute of Chicago Bulletin 41, no. 2 (February 1947): 20, (erroneous repro).
The Art Institute of Chicago, An Exhibition of Antique Oriental Rugs, exh. cat. (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1947), unpaginated, (repro.).
Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 252, (repro.).
Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. 2, Art of the Orient, 5th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 166, (repro.).
Ellen R. Goheen, The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1988), 224-25, (repro.).
Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 80, 405, (repro.).
Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 31, fig. 24, (repro.).
Michele Valentine, “Illuminated by the Loom,” Hali 209 (Autumn 2021): 60, 65-66, (repro.).
Kimberly Masteller, “From Court to Marketplace: Persian and Indian Textiles in the Nelson-Atkins Collection and their Foreign Collectors,” Orientations 53, no. 3 (May/June 2022): 52-54, (repro.).
John Twilley, "Material Studies of Safavid Weaving in a Diplomatic Git to the Vatican," Orientations 53, no. 3 (May/June 2022): 66-75, (repro.).
