Middle East, Textile, Carpet; Carpet fragment, wool knotted pile on cotton warp and cotton and wool weft, 'Vase Carpet' trellis design, Safavid Kirman, Iran, 1600-1700

Carpet, Vase Carpet, hand knotted woollen pile on cotton warp and cotton and woollen weft, Persian, 17th century
WARP: white cotton; Z4S; 24 threads per inch (100 per dm); depressed.
WEFT: white cotton and brown and green wool (seem to be using odd bits) wool; Z-spun, unplied; 3 shoots after each row of knots, 2 of wool and one of cotton; 11 knots per inch (43 per dm).
PILE: wool; 11 colours: red, orange, yellow, dark green, green, dark blue, light blue, purple, pink, dark brown, white (in the large patch the colours are brighter); asymmetrical knot open to the left and tied around 2 warp threads; 132 knots to the sq. inch (2150 per sq. dm).
SIDE FINISH: cut.
END FINISH: cut.
DESIGN: No borders. Field: Vase pattern with two lattices: (1) large multi-coloured leaves (2) blue/white/red which changes to contrast with the ground. There are small curling blue stems with flowerheads. There are 2 compartments or 1 and 2 halves per band; there is one complete band and 2 partial ones. The lower compartments are red and green; then dark blue with a lily and white with a vase and orange with a lily; then orange and red. There are 6 large motifs in each compartment - mainly curled saz leaves and serrated palmettes. The design is symmetrical across the vertical axis but the colours vary.
Catalogue Date: 26.11.97

The carpet designer can simplify the creative process, but still create something dramatic, by using a lattice to form a network of spaces in which he can draw different motifs. The long serrated leaves in this fragment form an obvious lattice, but there are two others formed by thin stems which change colour according to the ground colour of the segment they are in, creating a bold, yet complex, design.

220-1892