The Salting Carpet


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16th Century Turanian Carpet

(Victoria and Albert Museum). Herat circa 1588 to 1598, 7 ft- 7 in. x 5 ft- 5 in. (See Plate 14 and p. 21.)

Warp: Yellow silk. On two levels, 54 to 1 inch.

Weft: Yellow silk. Three shoots after each row of knots.

Knots : Wool. Senna. 27 to 1 inch, 730 to the square inch.

Metal Thread.- Gilt-silver strips wound on a core of white or yellow silk. Tapestry-woven on the upper layer of the warp, three shoots being equivalent to one row of knots.

Colors : Eleven. Crimson (medallion and border panels) : dark blue (field) -. green (:2nd border): light crimson (1st border): white (3rd border) : light blue: brown: yellow - light green black : orange.2

The floral forms to the left bespeak a Turanian origin. The are seen all through the Timurid era and then in Turanian and Ost Persien (East Persian). The birds are typical of Salting type bird forms (I suppose because they define the type). The cloud bands are clearly the type we see in Herat and Khorasan carpets. The medallion border in the above picture is of the lacy type that Charles Grant Ellis related to Herat3.

The main border contains cartouches with a poem from the great poet Hafiz. The poem bears a striking stylistic resemblance to the poem in the Marquand Medallion Carpet in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This poetry was very much in fashion in Herat during the Uzbek Renaissance. There is a strong tie between the art, the carpets, the poetry and the great Sufi masters.

Call for wine and scatter roses : what dost thou seek from Time ?- thus spake the rose at dawn. O nightingale, what sayest thou ?

Take the cushion to the garden, that thou mayest hold the'lip and kiss the cheek of the beloved and the cup-bearer, and drink wine and smell the rose.

Proudly move thy graceful form and to the garden go, that the cypress may learn from thy stature how to win hearts.

To-day while thy market is full of the tumult of buyers, gain and put by a store out of the capital of goodness.

Every bird brings a melody to the garden of the King,-the nightingale, songs of love, and Hafiz, prayers for blessing.4

1. Bennett, Ian et al. Rugs & Carpets of the World. Edison: Wellfleet Press, 1977. Frontispiece

2. Kendrick, A. F. and Tattersall, C. E. C. Hand Woven Carpets. 1922 rpt. New York: Dover Publications, 1973.

3. Ellis, Charles Grant. Oriental Carpets in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1988.

4. Kendrick, A. F. and Tattersall, C. E. C. Hand Woven Carpets. 1922 rpt. New York: Dover Publications, 1973. quoting Hafiz, Divan (ed. H. Brockhaus, Vol. 111, P. I75-6).

Note: To further a long term research project I am collecting data. When a piece such as this may be of interest to others I have decided to share my notes prior to culmination of the project. As such the attributions are my own. Any additions, information, or corrections, would be appreciated.

For Further Reading:

Guide to Rugs & Books

La Miniature En Orient

Notes on the War on Terrorism

Southwest Asia Time Line

Thanks and best wishes,

J. Barry O'Connell Jr.

Persian Rugs the O'Connell Guides