Carpet
Category
Carpets, rugs and mats
Date
circa 1600 - circa 1625
Materials
Silk, metal thread
Measurements
175 cm (Width); 393 cm (Length)
Place of origin
Isfahan
Order this imageCollection
Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
NT 1129445
Summary
A silk carpet with depressed weave and asymmetric knots, Isfahan, Iran, first quarter of the 17th century. Of the so-called 'Polonaise'-type, woven in green, blue and buff silks with gold- and silver-wrapped threads, with a floral border and a complex pattern of floral palmettes and scrolling stems in the main field. The term 'Polonaise' is a 19th century misnomer owing to the numerous carpets of this kind then in Poland, where there had long been a tradition of Oriental carpet imports via Armenian merchants. Slightly later than the 1601 inventory, this carpet is not listed there, but it is possible that it was one of the carpets bought by William Cavendish, the future 1st Earl of Devonshire. He bought a 'persia carpett' for £40 in November 1616 and another (in December 1618) for £23.
Provenance
Transferred to the National Trust from the Treasury in 1984.
References
McDowell, 1988: Joan Allgrove McDowell. “The textiles at Hardwick Hall.” Hali Magazine 39, 40 1988., p. 39 Durant 1999 David Norton Durant, Bess of Hardwick. London, Peter Owen, 1999, p. 154 Beattie, 1959: May H.Beattie, “Antique rugs at Hardwick Hall.” Oriental Art 5.22 (1959)., p. 60 Rowell, Christopher, 'Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Carpets at Hardwick', in Hardwick Hall: A Great Old Castle of Romance, eds., David Adshead and David Taylor (2016), 350, Figure 340