Carpet of Mantes

The carpet of Mantes is a work of Art safavide, allotted to the Iran of second half of the 16th century and preserved at the Musée of Louvre, in Paris, in the department of arts of Islam (OA 6610). Of very big size (7,83 X 3,79 m), he was discovered in the collegial one of Mantes in 1912 and was acquired less than one year later by the museum, in 1913. He is made out of wool, with a asymmetrical node.

History

The carpet of Mantes is known to have decorated the living rooms of the sub-prefecture of Mantes before being deposited with collegial and to be useful during the marriages, wide in the chorus, but no official document makes it possible to determine when and how it arrived to France. He is mentioned in the inventory of the goods of the churches of Eugene Purple-the-Duke, is the subject of a mention in Dictionnaire of furniture of this one, appeared in 1872. He could be entered the country as of the 17th century, date where the exchanges between France and Iran intensify, and have been the subject of a gift of Madam of Barry, mistress of Louis XV at the town of Mantes, without this fact being certain.

Its state of conservation is average, the carpet having been faded at the time of an abandonment in a part in work. A whole part is very damaged.

Description

The carpet, of rectangular form, has a broad principal edge, where are illustrated of the engagements between dragon and Phoenix separated by floral reasons. This band is framed of two relatively narrow secondary edges with floral reasons and Chinese clouds (known as clouds tchi) for the external edge.

The field itself is organized strictly around two perpendicular axes of symmetry. In the center three overlapping spangled medallions are, of smallest with the greatest red with floral reasons, tender green with four Panthère S with the mounting of as much of Antilope S and red with four engagements between two phoenixes and a dragon, always on bottom of floral reasons. Each level has a floral edge, and that of the largest medallion is also used to frame the cartouche and the Mandorle which escape on each side. The cartridges, on light blue bottom, are decorated with rinceaux with flowers of lotus and palmettes bifides, while in the mandorles two are kilins around a Cyprès.

The remainder of the field of organizes, on each side of the central medallion, in two registers, while axial symmetry is always of setting. With the lower register, in each half, of the trees in flower are rolled up around two cypresses with the foot of which graze capridés and run a hare, while a Lion devours a Gazelle and that a Renard springs. Birds play about in the branches and make the transition towards the higher register, where one sees a hunter aiming of sound mousquet a lion on the back of a gazelle. With the top of the hunter, a peacock finds has place between the medallion and the cartouche, various animals water itself with a pond, recognizable not with its red color, but with fish and ducks which are there. Dominating the stretch of water, a tree, can be a maple, between the branches of which is two birds established a nest to nourish their oisillons.

Dating

Because of its technique, the use of the asymmetrical nodes, it is not difficult to allot this carpet to Persia, even if the center of manufacture cannot be given with precision. On the other hand, the dating proves more complex. This work falls under the line of the carpets with medallions, whose organization takes again that of illuminations and bindings of the beginning of the 16th century and with the number of which figure celebrates it Darius of the universe and two carpets of the tomb of Shaykh Safi in Ardabil. However, the specialists prefer to date it from second half of this century, even of the beginning of 17th, because of the presence of the mousquet, a weapon which does not arrive to Iran that after the battle of Chaldiran (1514), and spreads gradually. The absence of corner pieces, a certain awkwardness in the representation of the animals are also to put on the account of a late dating.

Decoration: symbolisms and significance

One can attach the carpet of Mantes to a group of carpets known as of hunting. The iconography hunting is rather frequent in Iran, hunting being there a traditional sport, very appreciated by the nobility which found a manner there of being involved with the war. One can thus quote a famous example of the Pezzoli museum in Milan, where one sees riding to attack various animals in a swarming composition. Here however, the topic is modernized, with the appearance of the mousquet, is held by a hunter with foot and is alone.

One finds also several reasons symbolic systems which deserve an explanation.

the peacock is an animal associated with the person with the king for a long time in Iran. Its representation, rather static and hieratic on the carpet is perhaps to bring closer to that of these same animals on the principal iwan of the Mosquée of the Shah in Isfahan.
the cypress around whose a tree in flower is rolled up is a commonplace of poetry and Iranian painting, which represents the love. The man, extremely and vigorous is often compared with the cypress, the tree in flower symbolizing the woman.
the pond from where a tree escapes points out a myth zoroastrien creation of the world. It is treated here in manner relatively naturalist, which constitutes an innovation.
the combat of the dragon is phoenix is a topic symbolizing the fight of the good and the evil known as well in Iran as in China. It is here, with the flowers of lotus and of peony and the clouds tchi, one of the elements which recall the strong influences of Chinese art on the Iranian art to this period, influences that one finds in other arts like the ceramics or the art of the book.

Close works

Several carpets can be close to that of Mantes. In particular, one finds with the Musée of decorative Arts of Paris a fragment of carpet of the middle of the 16th completely comparable century, with medallion, whose field represents a garden with cypresses and trees in flowers. The colors are definitely varied, but weaving and the drawing much finer, thanks to the use of silk.

See too

External bonds

Analysis of the carpet on the site of the museum of Louvre

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