Carpet with Tree and Cartouche Design

Carpet

Tree carpets based on a formal garden scheme have been preserved in very small numbers; only four or five pieces still exist.

The basic design of this rug is essentially quite simple. The field is organized by alternate rows of smaller multi-lobed medallions and larger reciprocal cartouches. The medallions alternate in width and colour and, from the wider ones, four trees of two species grow, filling most of the field. Both the medallions and the cartouches are decorated with palmette patterns. The border pattern is unusually simple, consisting of separate units, each of which displays a repeat design of diamond-shaped rosettes from which spring very heavy, forked arabesques. IT seems that carpets of this type might have come from Northern Persia rather than the Northwest, since the border design is less elegant than in those of the 16th century Northwest Persian rugs from which it was derived.

[Arts Council 1972]

William H. Vanderbilt, New York; Joseph V. McMullan, New York (until 1960; gifted to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Islamic Carpets: The Joseph V. McMullan Collection," June 11–August 2, 1970, no. 68.

"Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Hayward Gallery, London, 19 October–10 December 1972." In Islamic Carpets from the Joseph V. McMullan Collection. London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1972. no. 26, p. 40, ill. pl. VIII (color).

McMullan, Joseph V., and Ernst J. Grube. Islamic Carpets. New York: Near Eastern Art Research Center, 1965. no. 26, pp. 104–11, ill. (color).

Schurmann, Ulrich. "The Joseph V. McMullan Collection. New York." In Islamische Teppiche. Frankfurt: Museum für Kunsthandwerk Frankfurt, 1968. no. 15, pp. 38–39, ill.

Ettinghausen, Richard. "Islamic Carpets. The Joseph V. McMullan Collection." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin vol. 28, no. 10 (1970). pp. 413, 414, ill. p. 413 (b/w), p. 414 (detail in color).

"The Joseph V. McMullan Collection." In Islamic Carpets. New York, 1970. no. 68.

Dimand, Maurice S., and Jean Mailey. Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1973. no. 42, pp. 82, 111, ill. fig. 113 (b/w).

Ellis, Charles. Oriental Carpets in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1988. pp. 182, 185–86, ill. fig. 52b (b/w).