The Mazarin Tapestry and the Coronation Carpet at Edward VII's Coronation

Some historic textiles possess such alluring beauty and intrinsic interest that they have had remarkably colourful pasts, rich in the kind of provenance that has taken their own fame to lofty, even regal, heights. These exemplary 16th century pieces both appeared at the coronation of King Edward VII at Westminster Abbey on 9 August 1902. Behind the scenes, they are also connected by their association with the Duveen Brothers-some of the most powerful art dealers in North America-who were commissioned by the former Prince of Wales to smarten up the Abbey' by providing textiles and thrones, following his 1901 accession.

This Safavid beauty is known as the "Coronation Carpet', despite another two rugs also appearing at the crowning. It entered the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) collection in 1949 when it was donated by the American tycoon J. Paul Getty. Its title was probably made more concrete by its prominent portrayal in a painting of the coronation ceremony by Edwin Austin Abbey, where it is depicted covering the steps leading up to the throne.

The well-connected, duplicitous Duveen Brothers had already been enlisted to redecorate Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace-which the new king described, upon succeeding Queen Victoria, as being furnished 'like a Scottish funeral parlour'. Besides royalty, the Duveens targeted wealthy industrialists as their clientele. Henry Clay Frick, Henry E. Huntington, J. P. Morgan, Andrew Mellon, John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford were among those who actively sought out Safavid rugs with encouragement and guidance from taste-making dealers like the Duveens.

The Mazarin Tapestry'-one of the finest surviving from the Middle Ages and early Renaissanceis named after its first recorded owner: Cardinal Giulio Mazarini, aka 'Mazarin' (1602-1661). It entered the collection of the National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, DC, as part of a 1942 donation of more than 2,000 objects from one of the gallery's founding benefactors, Joseph Early Widener (1871-1943). Widener was an art collector, philanthropist and heir to the fortune of his father, the transportation magnate Peter A. B. Widener.

Its provenance leads from its 17th-century namesake to the NGA. In 1901, a significant way along this path, the Duveens sold it to J. P. Morgan. It commanded $500,000, a figure bolstered by its imminent royal loan. This transaction saw the Duveens swindle Jacques Seligmann & Co.-one of their biggest art dealer rivals-spectacularly. Seligmann had initially approached the Duveens, suggesting that the two firms purchase the piece from the Comte de Castellane in partnership, as Jacques Seligmann had an entrée and had heard the Duveens were interested. But he was not yet aware that Edward had requested the tapestry at his coronation. When Seligmann discovered that his firm had been duped out of the deal, he claimed fraud, deception and damages from the Duveens in the High Court.

At this point, the coronation had been delayed by the king's appendicitis. So, with the accused keen to be spared the embarrassment of the tapestry being seized from Westminster Abbey to appear as an exhibit in court, the proceedings concluded with an out-of-court settlement of $210,000 plus Seligmann's costs.

Shortly after the coronation, the "Coronation Carpet' was acquired by the American collector and selfmade millionaire Marsden J. Perry, and subsequently belonged to two other American tycoons: Clarence Mackay, followed ultimately by the rug's LACMA donor, J. Paul Getty.