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In Victoria & Albert Museum, Sth Kensington, London.
In the Persian (Jameel) section. The Ardabil carpet, recently re-presented by skilful architects, has a hand-knotted woollen pile on silk warp and weft. It was commissioned by Shah Tahmasp in the town of Ardabil in north-west Iran in 1540, and is 11metres long -- millions of knots.
I understand this carpet came from the tomb of Sheikh Safi, progenitor of the Safavids.
In 1892 the carpet surfaced for sale in London where it was seen by designer and writer William Morris who described it as a "remarkable work of art" with a design of "singular perfection". He recommended the V & A buy it, which they did for two thousand pounds.
The weaver's inscription reads:
I have no refuge in the world other than thy threshold.
There is no protection for my head other than this door.
The work of the slave of the threshold Maqsud of Kashan in the year 946.
Translating this date into the Christian calendar shows that the carpet was woven around the years 1539-40 during the reign of Shah Tahmasp, one of the great patrons of carpet weaving.
[Ardabil is in north-west Iran.]
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The carpet takes its name from the city of Ardabil in northwest Iran, where it was the house of the altar of Safi al-Din Ardabili (1252 - 1334), poet, mystic, teacher and Kurdish Sufi teacher. In 1501, one of his descendants, Shah Ismail, took power, united Iran and established Islam as the official religion. The dynasty he founded is known as Safavid.
Carpets are among the most fundamental Islamic arts. This rug was one of a pair that was made for the altar of Safi al-Din Ardabili when it was declared a saint in the late 1530. Today, the Ardabil carpet dominates the main Islamic art gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, while its twin is in the LA County Museum of Art. The carpets were placed side by side in the altar.
It is not known if the carpet was produced in a royal workshop, but there is evidence for the courtyard workshop in the 15th and 16th centuries.
The carpet can be given exactly because of an inscription, a poetic inscription, a signature - "Operation of the portal slave, Maqsud Kashani", and the date, 946 in the Muslim calendar, equivalent to 1539 - 1540 dH. Maqsud was probably the court official pregnant with the carpet production and not a slave literally.
The carpet is made of wool, on a silk thread. The entire surface of the Flamingo carpet is covered by a single integrated design - an impressive performance considering the large size of the carpet is 10.51 x 5.34 m. The edge consists of four parallel lanes. It surrounds a huge rectangular field, which has a large yellow medallion in the center. The medallion is surrounded by a ring of sharp oval shapes and a lamp at both ends. This centerpiece is assorted by four corner pieces, which are quarters of a similar but simpler composition, without lamps.
The lamps presented hanging from the center piece are of different sizes. This is believed to have been designed to create a perspective effect - if standing next to a small lamp, both would look the same size. However, there is no other evidence that this type of perspective was used in Iran in the 1530s, and the lamps themselves are presented as flat shapes and not as three-dimensional objects. Another point of view is that the difference is a deliberate flaw in design, reflecting the belief that perfection belongs to God alone. Art historians admit that they were included to imitate lamps from mosques and altar, which together with the carpet beneath them, create the visual unit inside the altar.
Amazing filling design combines ten colors. The paints were made from natural materials such as pomegranate peel and indigo, so that the nuances vary slightly, producing a "wavy" effect in case closer and lighter wool lots were used.
The density of approximately 5,300 knots on ten square centimeters allowed the designer to incorporate a lot of detail. The realization of such a large carpet, with so many knots, is believed to have lasted four years and would have taken a team of up to 10 highly skilled weavers.
The design of the Ardabil carpet and its skillful execution is a proof of the great expertise of the artisans who worked in northwestern Iran in the 1530s.
The carpet was still in the shrine of Shaykh Safi al-Din in 1843, where it was seen by British visitors. About 30 years later, the altar suffered an earthquake, and the carpet was sold to a carpet company in Manchester, which in turn put it up for sale in 1892. While inspecting the V&A carpet, designer William Morris reported: "single perfection... beautiful logic and consistency". The museum purchased the carpet for £2,000 in March 1893.
In 2006, the Museum created a vast showcase in the center of the Jameel Gallery so that the carpet could be seen as intended on the floor. It is lit for ten minutes at an hour and a half to keep its rich colors.
Source: khanacademy.org , vam.ac.uk , en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org , Flickr
For V & A try:
www.vam.ac.uk
V & A new Architecture gallery:
www.vam.ac.uk/collections/architecture/index.html
Panoramic 360deg street approach to V&A (wait to load):
www.panoramicearth.com/74/London/Victoria_and_Albert_Museum
Ardabil carpet in Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardabil_Carpet
For more recent shots of Persian carpets in Iran see my Iran 1, Iran 2, and Iran 3 Sets/albums.
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Along Imperial College Rd, South Kensington, to Foster's new-blue Faculty Building -- a glass box with diagonal circulation ramp cut through it. PS
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Some streets of South Kensington are lined with Victorian and "Queen Anne" brick-and-terracotta housing blocks. PS
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Top quality graciousness. Kensington Palace Gardens Road is a Crown-owned private road, if that's not too much of an oxymoron. Lined with two rows of large London planes, it's mainly occupied by embassies and very wealthy owners -- Rolls Royce residences. PS
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Kensington Palace detail to the west side.
Out in front to the right are Kensington Gardens, popular with public, rolling meadows, shaded walks, and bosky tree groupings.
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Kensington Palace:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensington_Palace
The website of Kensington Palace, managed by Historic Royal Palaces.
www.hrp.org.uk/KensingtonPalace/
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