World Renowned Ardabil Carpet Returns to LACMA; On View through May 11, 2004
Rachel Bauch
RETURNS TO LACMA AFTER INTERNATIONAL CONSERVATION EFFORT
The Ardabil Carpet: A Sixteenth-Century Masterpiece Conserved
January 22 - May 11, 2004
LOS ANGELES-Centuries of transatlantic journeys, illustrious owners,
and international intrigue are woven into the history of one of
LACMA's most important works of art. The Ardabil Carpet: A Sixteenth
Century Masterpiece Conserved is the first time the huge,
twenty-three-by-thirteen-foot carpet is displayed since its recent
return from the Royal Palace Textile Conservation Studios at Hampton
Court Palace, London for cleaning and repair. The exhibition is
presented in the Atrium of LACMA's Ahmanson Building from January 22
through May 11, 2004.
LACMA's Ardabil Carpet and its identical mate at the Victoria & Albert
Museum in London are among Iran's most brilliant expressions of
aesthetic and technical achievement. These carpets were created in a
period of cultural, political, and religious flowering during the
Safavid Dynasty (1501-1732), under whose rule carpet weaving evolved
from a rural craft into a national industry and internationally
acclaimed art form.
The renowned silk and wool masterpiece is so finely worked that it has
approximately 350 knots per square inch, 15.5 million knots in total,
and probably required six weavers working side by side at least four
years to complete. The Ardabil Carpets are predominantly deep blue,
vibrant red, and soft yellow. Their overall composition is based on a
central medallion with radiating pendants and quarter medallions
repeated in the corners. The design is derived from bookbinding and
manuscript illumination, as is typical of many medallion carpets. The
carpets, however, include a unique design element: lamps are depicted
projecting from the top and bottom of the central medallion.
Medallions and lamps are set against a dense field of flowers growing
from scrolling leafy vines.
The carpets were created in northwestern Iran, possibly Tabriz, and
their name is derived from the belief that the carpets were originally
housed at the large shrine complex honoring a Safavid Sheikh in the
city of Ardabil. "That two identical Persian court carpets have
survived makes these carpets extraordinary, but rarer still is the
fact that they are signed and dated," says LACMA Costume and Textiles
Curator Dale Carolyn Gluckman. At one end is an inscription: a couplet
from a Persian ghazal, or ode, by fourteenth century lyrical poet
Hafiz, just above a signature and date. The following is woven into
the carpet's wool pile:
Other than thy threshold I have not refuge in this world.
My head has no resting place other than this doorway.
-Work of a servant of the court, Maqsud of Kashan, [in] the year 946
[1539-40]
The carpets sustained damage while still in Iran. Following their sale
to an English carpet broker at the end of the nineteenth century, the
lower field and wide outer border of one was removed to restore the
other. The now smaller carpet was repaired and given a new outer
border. The restored carpet was sold to the Victoria & Albert Museum,
while the other was kept undisclosed in fear that its identical
existence might diminish the value of the V&A masterpiece. The
"hidden" carpet was eventually sold to an American businessman on the
condition of secrecy. The secret Ardabil Carpet traveled back and
forth between continents and wealthy owners before being lent and made
public at a major exhibition of Persian art in London, where it
dazzled J. Paul Getty in 1931. Getty purchased it eight years later.
He donated it to the Museum of Science, History, and Art in Exposition
Park, and it became part of LACMA's permanent collection in 1965.
Repairs and the addition of the replacement border caused strain on
weaker sections of the original carpet creating small tears each time
the LACMA Ardabil Carpet was unrolled; High acidity from an early
washing meant that the carpet could not be displayed safely. In 1999,
LACMA and Hampton Court conservators joined forces to develop a
cleaning protocol to rinse out accumulated soil and soluble acids from
the carpet. The cleaning was done on a wash table, measuring twenty by
thirty feet. Tears were repaired and support fabrics were then
stitched to the back of the carpet to facilitate safe handling. The
entire process took nine months to complete. Beginning January 22, the
Ardabil Carpet will be on display in its current resting-place: the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
# # #
About LACMA: Established as an independent institution in 1965, the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art has assembled a permanent collection
that includes approximately 100,000 works of art spanning the history
of art from ancient times to the present, making it the premier
encyclopedic visual arts museum in the western United States. Located
in the heart of one of the most culturally diverse cities in the
world, the museum uses its collection and resources to provide a
variety of educational, aesthetic, intellectual, and cultural
experiences for the people who live in, work in, and visit Los
Angeles. LACMA offers an outstanding schedule of special exhibitions,
as well as lectures, classes, family activities, film programs and
world-class musical events.
Exhibition Credit: This exhibition was organized by the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art. It was supported by the generous gift of J. H.
Minassian & Co.
Curator: Dale Carolyn Gluckman, Curator, Costume and Textiles, LACMA
Museum Hours: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday noon-8 p.m.; Friday noon-9
p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; closed Wednesday. Call (323)
857-6000, or visit our web site at www.lacma.org for more information.
General LACMA Admission: Adults $9; students 18+ with ID and senior
citizens 62+ $5; children 17 and under are admitted free. Admission
(except to specially ticketed exhibitions) is free the second Tuesday
of every month, and evenings after 5 p.m.