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{{Lynda Hillyer (Head of Textile Conservation), Boris Pretzel (Materials Scientist). Conservation Journal, Spring 2005 Issue 49.}}

Lynda Hillyer (Head of Textile Conservation), Boris Pretzel (Materials Scientist). Conservation Journal, Spring 2005 Issue 49.<br>

The Ardabil carpet will form the centre piece of the new Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art at the V&A  which opens in July 2006. This most famous of Persian carpets has been the subject of endless copies ranging in size from small rugs to full scale carpets. There is an 'Ardabil' at 10 Downing Street and even Hitler had an 'Ardabil' in his office in Berlin.<ref>Wearden, Jennifer 'The Surprising Geometry of the Ardabil Carpet', Abstracts from the Ars Textrina Conference, Leeds 1995.</ref> The real Ardabil was first seen in London in 1892 when it was exhibited in a dealers showroom in Wigmore Street. William Morris described it as 'a remarkable work of art . . the design is of singular perfection . . its size and splendour as a piece of workmanship do full justice to the beauty and intellectual qualities of the design'. It was Morris, in his capacity as one of the V&A's Art Referees, who persuaded the Museum to raise, with the aid of public subscription, the then vast sum of £2000 to purchase the carpet in March 1893.<br>

The Ardabil carpet will form the centre piece of the new Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art at the V&A  which opens in July 2006. This most famous of Persian carpets has been the subject of endless copies ranging in size from small rugs to full scale carpets. There is an 'Ardabil' at 10 Downing Street and even Hitler had an 'Ardabil' in his office in Berlin.<ref>Wearden, Jennifer 'The Surprising Geometry of the Ardabil Carpet', Abstracts from the Ars Textrina Conference, Leeds 1995.</ref> The real Ardabil was first seen in London in 1892 when it was exhibited in a dealers showroom in Wigmore Street. William Morris described it as 'a remarkable work of art . . the design is of singular perfection . . its size and splendour as a piece of workmanship do full justice to the beauty and intellectual qualities of the design'. It was Morris, in his capacity as one of the V&A's Art Referees, who persuaded the Museum to raise, with the aid of public subscription, the then vast sum of £2000 to purchase the carpet in March 1893.<br>

The Ardabil carpet measures 10.51m x 5.34m (34' 6" x 17' 6") and is thought to be one of the largest carpets in the world. Unknown to the Museum at the time, there was a second Ardabil, more finely knotted, which is now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. This carpet has lost its borders and part of its central field; a portion of the missing areas are thought to have been used to  repair the carpet owned by the V&A.<ref>Wearden, Jennifer, 'The V&A Ardabil: The Early Repairs', Hali, Issue 80, 1995 pp 102-107.</ref> Occasionally fragments originally taken from the Los Angeles carpet have appeared on the open market. The two carpets were almost certainly a royal commission and would have taken about four years to weave. Their origins remain unclear but they are said to have come from a complex of shrines and mosques at Ardabil in North West Persia, burial place of  Shaikh Safi al-Din, ancestor of Shah Ismail, founder of the Safavid dynasty. At one end of the Ardabil carpet, a cartouche contains an inscription which dates it to 1539/40 AD. The large central medallion is characteristic of carpets woven in Tabriz (North West Persia) and the fantastic design of the ground of the carpet consisting of two layers of swirling leaves, stems and flowers is typical of the art of the early Safavid dynasty.<br>

The Ardabil carpet measures 10.51m x 5.34m (34' 6" x 17' 6") and is thought to be one of the largest carpets in the world. Unknown to the Museum at the time, there was a second Ardabil, more finely knotted, which is now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. This carpet has lost its borders and part of its central field; a portion of the missing areas are thought to have been used to  repair the carpet owned by the V&A.<ref>Wearden, Jennifer, 'The V&A Ardabil: The Early Repairs', Hali, Issue 80, 1995 pp 102-107.</ref> Occasionally fragments originally taken from the Los Angeles carpet have appeared on the open market. The two carpets were almost certainly a royal commission and would have taken about four years to weave. Their origins remain unclear but they are said to have come from a complex of shrines and mosques at Ardabil in North West Persia, burial place of  Shaikh Safi al-Din, ancestor of Shah Ismail, founder of the Safavid dynasty. At one end of the Ardabil carpet, a cartouche contains an inscription which dates it to 1539/40 AD. The large central medallion is characteristic of carpets woven in Tabriz (North West Persia) and the fantastic design of the ground of the carpet consisting of two layers of swirling leaves, stems and flowers is typical of the art of the early Safavid dynasty.<br>