IMAGE DETAILS

'Coronation' carpet detail, Safavid Persia, second quarter 16th century. LACMA, 49.8, Gift of J. Paul Getty

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06 November 2009

Until mid-January 2010, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is showing both of its great classical Persian carpets from the ?rst half of the 16th century – the Ardabil and ‘Coronation’ carpets, both the gift of J. Paul Getty.

Seldom exhibited at the museum, due in part to their large size and their sensitivity to light, the Safavid carpets are being shown together for the ?rst time at LACMA, affording visitors a rare opportunity to see two early Safavid carpets and learn something of their fascinating history.

For HALI readers, the LA Ardabil carpet and its more famous pendant in London are of course very well known. The ‘Coronation’ carpet by comparison is far less familiar. It is a fairly well-preserved wool-piled medallion carpet of the category sometimes referred to as a Paradise Garden carpet, with a typical large central medallion, smaller pendant medallions on a pale ?oral ground, paired cypresses and ?owering trees. Real and imaginary birds and animals cavort within a spring-like landscape. A pair of winged houris, one holding a large long-necked bottle, the other a shallow cup, adorn the quarter medallions in each corner.

The carpet’s decoration suggests a paradise garden with trees, forest birds and animals, as well as ?owing water, represented by the central medallion ?lled with cranes and aquatic creatures. What clearly makes this an unearthly setting are the winged celestial beings and the dragons, phoenixes and qilins inherited from Chinese mythology. Surrounding the ?eld is a border of ?oral vines and palmettes on a dark ground.

The modern historical record for LACMA’s Coronation carpet begins in 1902; its story before that date is imprecise and even after 1902 there are still some interesting lacunae. It received its name because of its presence at the coronation of King Edward VII in Westminster Abbey on 9 August 1902. Set before the king’s throne, it featured prominently in Edwin Austin Abbey’s painting of the event, and is also clearly visible in two contemporary black-and-white photographs of Westminster Abbey as arranged for the coronation.

It was selected for use at the Abbey by Duveen Brothers, who had been commissioned to provide tapestries and rugs for the event. One important reason for its choice seems to have been its large size. A record of its provenance, among a list of carpets in Getty’s collection provided by Duveen and preserved in the ?rm’s archives at the Getty Research Institute, lists ?rst the Paris-based dealer Fernand Schutz, and second Duveen Galleries. The next owner is given as John A. Holms of Paisley, Scotland, followed by several US-based owners.

Marsden J. Perry (1850-1935) of Providence, Rhode Island, who seems to have acquired the Coronation carpet by 1910, was a self-made millionaire and an inveterate collector known for his Chinese porcelains and the largest private collection of Shakespeareana in the United States. The carpet, like his collection of 18th-century English furniture, may have been intended for his home in Providence.

The next recorded owner is the American silver mine-heir Clarence Mackay (1874-1938), who according to some accounts had also brie?y owned LACMA’s Ardabil before it was acquired by Charles T. Yerkes around the mid-1890s. It is unclear when Mackay purchased the Coronation carpet, but it was already his property by May 1935, when it was included in an exhibition of oriental rugs and textiles at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It may have been in his possession earlier, as it is listed under his name in Pope’s great Survey of Persian Art, which was published a number of years after the 1931 exhibition in London where the Coronation carpet’s pair in Berlin (which was largely destroyed by fire in the latter days of World War Ii) was shown. Mackay’s ‘Coronation’ carpet was sold at Christie’s, London, in 1939, as part of his estate. It was acquired by J. Paul Getty, who had lately purchased the Ardabil carpet from Duveen.

Nothing need be said here of Getty or his collecting proclivities. His carpet-related correspondence from the 1940s suggests that the Coronation carpet, like his Ardabil, was in frequent demand for exhibitions and was away for long periods of time. It was shown twice in New York in 1940, at the ‘6,000 Years of Persian Art’ exhibition at the Iranian Institute and then at the Metropolitan Museum (where it remained until 1943), as well as at the Chicago Art Institute in 1946. In 1949 Getty presented the Coronation carpet to LACMA. This was followed several years later, in 1953, with the gift of the Ardabil carpet. Now, after ?fty years the two are ?nally exhibited together at LACMA.

Linda Komaroff

 Curator of Islamic Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art