NORTH WEST PERSIA, CIRCA 1900

The design of this large Tabriz carpet is drawn from earlier 16th century Safavid, Kirman 'vase' carpets. The term 'vase' was first coined following an exhibition organised by May Beattie in 1976, which highlighted a group of carpets whose designs featured stylised vases from which the palmettes and flowering tendrils spring and which all shared a similar weaving technique. In most examples this design was directional, the vases appearing in alternating positions and being almost overshadowed by the massive palmettes. The present carpet retains the three separate planes of palmettes and linked leafy tendrils, along with the decorative handled vases found in some of the original examples, however the colour palette has been adapted to suit more Western tastes.