Museum, Polonaise and Hunting Carpets
Museum carpet.
Origin: North-west Persia, first half of the 16th century
Collection of the Meuso Poldi-Pezzoli, Milan
Dimension 570 x 365 cm. (224 x 123 in.)
Persian Knot: 409,200 knots per sq. m (264 knots per sq. in) 62 knots per 10 cms. across 66 knots per 10 cms lengthwise
Warp of yellow silk. Weft of brown cotton. Wool Pile

A large sixteen-pointed medallion appears in the center with a quarter medallion in each corner. In central cartouchethe is an inscription which reads: 'Through the effort of Ghias-el-Ddin Jami, this work whose beauty charms us has been created in the year 949 (1543)'. Seven hunters on horseback and one on foot pursue animals such as lions, antelopes, bears, lynx and boars. Deer, hares and falcons attacking the deer cluster around the medallions. The border is divided into medallions patterned with arabesques encircled by undulating bands containing flowers and birds. The carpet, which is of exceptional fineness, was originally in the possession of the Italian Royal Family. It was cut into several pieces then eventually re-sewn together.

Hunting carpet. Osterreicheisches Museum (Vienna).

This Carpet belongs to the first Safavid period. It would seem that this carpet may have arrived in Vienna in about 1696 and was a gift from Peter the Great to Leopold I. This very rare specimen is made entirely of silk. The warp and weft threads are of yellow silk and the pile is also of silk, dyed in about twenty different colors. The knot density is very high - 840 to the square inch with a Persian style of knot. The basic colors used for the background and the border are salmon pink, wine, pale green and white and, for the decoration, various shades of green, blue, grey, green and gold.

Polonaise carpet.

This rare seventeenth-century specimen, on display in the Osterreichisches Museum in Vienna, comes from central Persia and, in all probability, from Kashan like many other carpets of the same period. This example is known as a 'Polonaise' carpet because of a curious misunderstanding. Prince Czartoryski of Warsaw, Poland exhibited a collection of these specimens in 1878 at the Trocadero in Paris. Since they did not know where the carpets came from, the Parisians, on seeing the coat of arms, which appeared, on each of them, christened them 'Polonaise' carpets. This carpet measures approximately 6ft 6in x 4ft 6in. The Persian knot is used with 180 knots per square inch. The warp is of cotton and the weft is a combination of three threads, two of dark cotton and one of red silk. The pile is of silk. As well as the normal weft threads there are also silver and silver-gilt threads.