http://collections.mfa.org/collections/419634/objects/rdfTFA.Carpetshttp://collections.mfa.org/internal/media/dispatcher/965115/resize%3Aformat%3Dfullhttp://collections.mfa.org/internal/media/dispatcher/885179/resize%3Aformat%3DfullCarpet17th century or laterCotton and wool interlocked tapestry with eccentric weftsRed ground with yellow latticework in field and three medallions. The center medallion contains a basket of fruit, the others contain urns; all three surrounded by birds, lions and wreath. Border of stylized scrolling vines with birds and rodent-like creatures.http://collections.mfa.org/objects/37387/rdfhttp://collections.mfa.org/internal/media/dispatcher/1320686/resize%3Aformat%3DfullCarpetmid-16th centuryWool warp and wool weft with wool knotted pileWool warp, weft and pile. Sehna knot. Red, yellow-green, and blue pile yarns. Main field: circular center (red ground), surrounded by octagon with points added to form a star (green ground). Surrounding are smaller octagon-stars (red ground except in corners, which have circle-in-square designs (green ground). Border has alternating octagons and oblong shapes (blue ground). Green fringe on both ends. Small sections of red pile repaired.http://collections.mfa.org/objects/115331/rdfhttp://collections.mfa.org/internal/media/dispatcher/582939/resize%3Aformat%3DfullDragon carpet (fragmentary)about 1700Wool warp, wool weft, wool pileDragon carpets are named for the S-shaped creatures contained in a latticework of sawtooth leaves. In the bottom third of this fragmentary carpet, two yellow dragons face away from a shield-like palmette.Because dragon carpets resemble nineteenth-century Caucasian rugs, they have often been attributed to the Caucasus (the area between the Black and Caspian Seas). In actuality, they may have been made farther south, in and around the city of Tabriz--an area better situated for their manufacture and export.Main field ground: blue. Design: large palmettes, lattice of serrated leaves containing conventionalized dragons and other fauna; colors: red, yellow, blue, green, cream-white, and dark blue. Border ground: neutral yellow. Design: conventionalized leaves and flowers. Condition: shortened, with restoration, including most of top and bottom borders.http://collections.mfa.org/objects/116664/rdfhttp://collections.mfa.org/internal/media/dispatcher/1822364/resize%3Aformat%3DfullHunting carpetabout 1530Aqa Mirak and Sultan MuhammadSilk warp and weft with silk knotted pile, with supplementary metal-wrapped patterning weftsScenes of hunting and feasting on this carpet reflect the pastimes of the Safavid court. The size of the carpet, the use of the silk throughout, and the exquisite workmanship (up to 810 knots per square inch) suggest that it was made for Shah Tahmasp (r. 1524–1576). Its rich pictorial patterns are thought to have been designed by the leading painters at the Safavid court.In the central medallion, highlighted with metallic threads, is a combat between dragons and phoenixes, a motif which reflects Chinese influence on Persian art. Within the blossoming vines of the surrounding field, novice hunters attack rabbits with clubs while more skilled hunters kill deer and antelope with spears and swords or battle lions barehanded.The relaxed atmosphere of the border design contrasts with the violent activity of the carpet's center. Richly dressed courtiers eat and drink and, as described in Persian poetry, discuss the day's hunting adventures.http://collections.mfa.org/objects/49170/rdfhttp://collections.mfa.org/internal/media/dispatcher/1493967/resize%3Aformat%3DfullMedallion carpetlate 15th–early 16th centuryWool and cotton; wool pileWool and cotton fabric, wool pile. Geometric design in field of quatrefoils and star-like motifs. Colors in field are red, white, yellow, and blue. Center of medallion predominantly orange. Borders predominantly blue with orange, red, yellow and white. Border shows stylized floral design. Condition: pile worn but design preserved. Some repairs in fabric.http://collections.mfa.org/objects/117616/rdfhttp://collections.mfa.org/internal/media/dispatcher/711611/resize%3Aformat%3DfullPersian carpet17th centuryCotton warp, cotton weft, wool pile, asymmetrical knotAmong the most esteemed oriental carpets in seventeenth-century northern Europe were those that featured Chinese-derived cloudbands and leaf-like forms called palmettes on crimson fields. Painters depicted these expensive carpets draped over tables or spred on floors under the feet of royalty.The name "Indo-Persian" reflects a lack of consensus among scholars, who still argue about where in India or Iran such carpets were made. Because the structure and color of this carpet are typical of Persian rather than Indian rugs, it is assigned to Iran. Its centralized design is exceptionally harmonious and elegant.Field: madder rose ground with polychrome stylized blossoms, leaves, and cloudbands symmetrically disposed. Narrow blue-and-yellow guard band separates this from dark blue border showing units of a blossom between pairs of serrated leaves. Yellow-and-blue outer guard band, showing small black or white rosettes. Black pile and some white pile corroded. Side edges overcast with rose wool yarns.http://collections.mfa.org/objects/49162/rdfhttp://collections.mfa.org/internal/media/dispatcher/965115/resize%3Aformat%3DfullPictorial carpetabout 1590–1600Cotton warp and weft with wool knotted pileWarp, white cotton; weft pinkish brown cotton(?) apparently two threads between each row of knots. One hundred Persian (Sehna) knots to a square centimeter; pile, wool. The ground of the main field is of dark red. The design main field is dark red. The design of houses, men, real and imaginary, birds, and animals is of light tan, dark blue, greens, yellow, white and red. The ground of the main border is light neutral tan, on this is a design of palmettes filled with masks and separated filled with masks and separated by flowers and Chinese looking birds. The inner guard band has a floral design; the outer one has a reciprocal design.http://collections.mfa.org/objects/71487/rdfhttp://collections.mfa.org/internal/media/dispatcher/1022736/resize%3Aformat%3DfullPillar ruglate 19th centuryWool pile on cotton plain-weave groundVertically oriented with mountain and water border at bottom and valence of tassels across top. Dragon surrounded by clouds.http://collections.mfa.org/objects/16700/rdfhttp://collections.mfa.org/internal/media/dispatcher/753485/resize%3Aformat%3DfullPolonaise carpetprobably early 17th centuryCotton warp, cotton weft, silk pile, silver- and gilt-silver-wrapped silk brocadingMade in the carpet workshops of Shah Abbas I (ruled 1588 - 1629) and his successors, sumptuous silk -and-metal rugs like this one were used at court, donated to religious buildings, or sent off to European royalty. Nineteenth -century writers, confused by the heraldic designs woven into some of these carpets, misattributed the group to Poland, and the name Polonaise has persisted.Of the eighty-two carpets or carpet fragments that Denman Waldo Ross gave the MFA, this Polonaise was the most expensive; Ross paid Paris and New York-based antiquarian dealer Dikran Kelekian $7,500 for it about 1907.Thirty-six Persian (Sehna) knots to a square centimeter. The ground is of salmon pink; on this is a design of conventional flowers in bright green, bright yellows, blues, reds, white, gold, and silver. The ground of the main border is bright green.http://collections.mfa.org/objects/68293/rdfhttp://collections.mfa.org/internal/media/dispatcher/728992/resize%3Aformat%3DfullRugearly 19th centuryWool warp, weft, and pile, knotted pile (Senna knot)http://collections.mfa.org/objects/68651/rdfhttp://collections.mfa.org/internal/media/dispatcher/852026/resize%3Aformat%3DfullRugabout 1960–65Ilums Bolighus (Danish department store)Cotton(?) plain weave with knotted wool pile and supplementary weftSquare rug with geometric pattern of concentric squares and circles in short black and longer white knotted pile, centered on a circle woven with a red supplementary weft.http://collections.mfa.org/objects/319771/rdfhttp://collections.mfa.org/internal/media/dispatcher/1493998/resize%3Aformat%3DfullRug1850-1900wool tapestryWool kilim featuring abstract design of two large-scale diamonds on point in white,indigo,coral pink, soft yellow and light blue. Narrow serrated border of green, pink, and black. Striped bands on fringed ends.http://collections.mfa.org/objects/631981/rdfhttp://collections.mfa.org/internal/media/dispatcher/1312942/resize%3Aformat%3DfullSmall-pattern Holbein carpet15th centuryWool warp, wool weft, wool knotted pile, Spanish knotMudejars, or Spanish Muslim craftsmen working for Christian patrons, made this vivid carpet, adopting its design--a field pattern of octagons and diamonds and a border derived from Arabic script--from contemporary Turkish carpets. Several European painters, including Hans Holbein the Younger (about 1497-1543) , depicted such carpets, and their design has become known as "small-pattern Holbein".Unlike its Turkish models, this carpet is woven with the single warp knot then peculiar to Spain.Warp, white wool; weft, white wool, four passes between each row of knots; Spanish knots, 20 to a square centimeter. The ground of the main field is dark green; the design of medallions is bright yellow, red, blue, black, green, violet, and white. The ground of the main border is red; the design, in imitation of Kufic (angular Arabic) script, is white, green, black, blue, yellow, and red. The guard borders have designs of medallions, interlaces, and geometric forms.http://collections.mfa.org/objects/46976/rdfhttp://collections.mfa.org/internal/media/dispatcher/743770/resize%3Aformat%3DfullWoven fabric: California1983Nathalie du PasquierHand-woven woolhttp://collections.mfa.org/objects/128659/rdf