Fragment of a Herat Carpet

The large scale of this fragment’s motifs suggests that it once formed part of a sizable carpet. Such rugs, sometimes reaching over 6 meters in length, often feature large palmettes and curved serrated leaves like those found in the main red field and partial border of this fragment. The carpet was woven with warps and wefts spun from cotton (the threads that form the rug’s basic structure), a relatively inexpensive material compared to wool and silk. These cost-saving measures resulted in larger carpets with repeating designs that could meet increasing global demands for Persian carpets in the 17th century.