JERUSALEM, EARLY 20TH CENTURY

This rug was executed in Jerusalem and bears the signature of the Marbadiah workshops which employed weavers formerly from the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts. This prestigious institution, established outside the Old City of Jerusalem, is named after Bezalel ben Uri, the Biblical builder of the Tabernacle (Exodus 31:33). In 1920, a group of Bezalel artists created the Marbadiah workshops and became well known for their representations of Biblical sites, calligraphy and their incorporation of oriental and ancient motifs into modern carpets and rugs (Felton, A., Jewish Carpets, Suffolk, 1997, p.29).