The Ardabil Carpet (V&A, London)

1539

THE V&A ARDABIL CARPET, London. There are two carpets from the same Safavid commission, both dated AH 946/1539-40 and signed Maqsud of Kashan: this one (V&A) and a second at LACMA, Los Angeles. The V&A carpet is a COMPOSITE, before its 1893 sale/display it was repaired using pile and border material stripped from the second (LACMA) carpet, which is why the LACMA carpet today has no border. 'The Ardabil Carpet is at the V&A' undersells that it's really one carpet assembled from two.