The Ardabil Carpet

 The Ardabil Carpet. Maqsud of Kashan. 1539–1540 C.E. Silk and wool. 

• The Ardabil Carpet is exceptional; it is one of the world's oldest Islamic carpets, as well as one of the largest, most beautiful and historically important. It is not only stunning in its own right, but it is bound up with the history of one of the great political dynasties of Iran.
• Carpets are among the most fundamental of Islamic arts. Portable, typically made of silk and wools, carpets were traded and sold across the Islamic lands and beyond its boundaries to Europe and China. Those from Iran were highly prized. Carpets decorated the floors of mosques, shrines and homes, but they could also be hung on walls of houses to preserve warmth in the winter.
• Safavids; their rule, which lasted until 1722, was one of the most important periods for Islamic art, especially for textiles and for manuscripts.
• The pile of the carpet is made from wool, rather than silk because it holds dye better. 
• The dyes used to color the carpet are natural and include pomegranate rind and indigo. Up to ten weavers could have worked on the carpet at any given time. 
• the Ardabil carpet was highly detailed; intricate design and pattern. It is not known whether the carpet was produced in a royal workshop
• The rich geometric patterns, vegetative scrolls, floral flourishes; encouraging the viewer to walk around and around, trying to absorb every detail of design.
• the design of the carpet was not arbitrary, but was well-organized and thoughtful can be seen throughout. 
• The design of the Ardabil carpet and its skillful execution is a testament to the great skill of the artisans at work in north-west Iran in the 1530s.