The Ardabil Carpet (Ardebil Carpet) is either of two famous Persian carpets which are currently held in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

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  • The Ardabil Carpet (Ardebil Carpet) is either of two famous Persian carpets which are currently held in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Completed during the rule of the Safavid Shah Tahmasp I in the mid-16th century, probably in Tabriz, the carpets are considered some of the best of the classical Persian school of carpet creation. They were first placed in a Mosque in Ardabil, but they had been damaged in Iran and were sold in 1890 to a British carpet broker who restored one of the carpets using the other and then resold it to the Victoria and Albert Museum. William Morris, then an art referee for the V&A, was instrumental in the acquisition. The second "secret" carpet was sold to American businessmen Clarence Mackay and was exchanged by wealthy buyers for years. Passing through the Mackay, Yerkes, and De la Mare art collections, it was eventually revealed and shown in 1931 at an exposition in London. American industrialist J. Paul Getty saw it, and bought it from Lord Duveen for approximately $70,000 several years later. Getty was approached by agents on behalf of King Farouk of Egypt who offered $250,000 so that it could be given as a wedding present. Getty later donated the carpet to the Museum of Science, History, and Art in the Exposition Park in Los Angeles. 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. The foundation is of silk with wool pile of a knot density at 300-350 knots per square inch . The size of the carpets are 34 1/2 feet by 17 1/2 feet (10,5 metres x 5,3 metres). The carpets have an inscription: a couplet from a ghazal by Persian mythic poet Hafez and a signature. (en)
  • Ardabilmattan eller Ardebilmattan är världens mest berömda persiska matta. Mattan beställdes av Shah Tahmasp till Safimoskén i Ardabil. Maksoud från Keshan utförde arbetet 1539-1540. Från början fanns det två mattor, men man offrade den sämsta för reparation av den andra. Mattan finns idag på Victoria and Albert Museum i London och är den enda mattan från 1500-talet som är signerad och daterad. Resterna av den sämre mattan finns på Los Angeles County Museum i USA (sv)
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  • The 'Ardebil' carpet, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, is probably the best known of all old Persian carpets. It is one of a pair which came to England in 1893 virtually in tatters. The decision was made to sacrifice one carpet so that the other could be restored. The cost of this work was prohibitively high, even for a museum, and it was only after an extensive public appeal that sufficient funds were raised for work to go ahead. There can be little doubt that in this case the end justified the means. The carpet, measuring 38′ long by 18′ wide, is an extremely fine speciment bearing an inscription by the weaver. This inscription reads:

    ''I have no refuge in the world other than thy threshold.
    There is no protection for my head other than this door.''
    ''The work of the slave of the threshold Maqsud of Kashan in the year 946.''

    Translating this date into the Christian calendar shows that the carpet was woven around the years 1539-40 during the reign of Shah Tahmasp, one of the great patrons of carpet weaving. The incomplete remainder of the other 'Ardebil' carpet, which bears the same inscription and date, was given by J. Paul Getty to the Los Angeles County Museum. (en)
  • The Story of Carpet. (en)
  • dbpedia:Essie_Sakhai
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  • The Ardabil Carpet (Ardebil Carpet) is either of two famous Persian carpets which are currently held in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. (en)
  • Ardabilmattan eller Ardebilmattan är världens mest berömda persiska matta. (sv)
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  • Ardabil Carpet (en)
  • Ardabilmattan (sv)
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