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Rug
Fragment of a vase carpet
Rug
Persian
Safavid Dynasty
17th century
Object Place: Kirman, Iran (Persia)
Medium/Technique
Cotton warp, one cotton and two wool wefts, wool pile
Dimensions
207.0 x 94.9 cm (81 1/2 x 37 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Mrs. Edward Jackson Holmes
Accession Number64.2102
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia, Fashion and Textiles
ClassificationsTextiles
DescriptionThis fragment was once the upper right corner of a vase carpet with spectacular palmette-and-split-leaf borders. At least eight similiar fragments remain in European museums--enough to suggest the existance of an identical pair of carpets.
An Egyptian private collector lent this fragment to the 1931 International Exhibition of Persian Art in London. By 1937, Edward Jackson Holmes (1873–1950), a trustee and former director of the MFA and an eminent collector, had acquired it and lent it to the museum; his widow, Mary Stacy Beaman Holmes (1875–1964), bequeathed it in 1964.
Warp: white cotton, on two levels. Weft: cream white cotton, wool. Knots: wool, asymmetrical, 30 to square centimetre. Design: dark blue main border with interlacing strapwork arabesques. Red-ground field with stylized floral latticework. Other colors, blue, green, orange, yellow and white.
An Egyptian private collector lent this fragment to the 1931 International Exhibition of Persian Art in London. By 1937, Edward Jackson Holmes (1873–1950), a trustee and former director of the MFA and an eminent collector, had acquired it and lent it to the museum; his widow, Mary Stacy Beaman Holmes (1875–1964), bequeathed it in 1964.
Warp: white cotton, on two levels. Weft: cream white cotton, wool. Knots: wool, asymmetrical, 30 to square centimetre. Design: dark blue main border with interlacing strapwork arabesques. Red-ground field with stylized floral latticework. Other colors, blue, green, orange, yellow and white.
ProvenanceAn Egyptian private collector lent this fragment to the 1931 International Exhibition of Persian Art in London. By 1937, Edward Jackson Holmes (1873 - 1950), a trustee and former director of the MFA and an eminent collector, had acquired it. Mr. and Mrs.(Mary Stacy Beaman) Holmes (1875-1964) lent it to the MFA Oct. 16, 1937; it was returned Dec. 18, 1941; relent Oct. 23, 1957, and bequeathed by Mrs. Holmes Dec. 9, 1964, bequeathed it in 1964.