Early Spanish carpets are among the oldest complete groups of knotted-pile carpet weaving extant today, with known examples found at Fostat dating back to at least the thirteenth century. Pile carpet weaving was introduced to Spain with the Moorish occupation but continued as a flourishing industry even after the establishment of Christian rule. The Bernheimer Spanish fragment is part of the same carpet as another fragment in the Textile Museum, Washington (see Khnel, Ernst and Bellinger, Louisa: Catalogue of Spanish Rugs 12th Century to 19th Century, Washington, 1953, pl.IX). The design source for this fragment is most likely taken from contemporaneous brocaded silk fabrics, influenced by Moorish design. This design appears to have been popular as it can be found on several surviving carpets or fragments, including another piece in the Textile Musuem (Ibid, pl.XIX) and a fragment sold at Sotheby's New York, 24 Septemeber 1991, lot 1. Most of the other examples with this pattern, however, have a red ground with a blue interlacing design. The Alcaraz origin and the second half fifthteenth century date for this piece are based on a remnant border on the portion in the Textile Museum. At first, this border appears to come from a different carpet as it has an elaborately drawn design of animals, birds, 'wild men' and an inner border of stylized kufic script. The border is not, however, added or replaced but is structurally part of the carpet. Stylistically, this border belongs to the group of so-called 'Admiral' carpets dating from the first half fifthteenth century (see Ellis, Charles Grant: Oriental Carpets in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 1988, no.67). The exact attribution for the 'Admiral' carpets is disputed between Alcaraz and Letur. As most of the later carpets of this design are generally agreed to be from Alcaraz, this seems to be the safer option. Khnel suggests that this carpet had been started in the earlier style and for some reason was completed at a later date in the new fashion of the day (Khnel, op. cit., p.11).