SIGNED MUHAMMADI [URPANCHECH], DATED 1908 AD

The 'Ardabil' carpet, from which the present lot takes its design, is the world's oldest dated carpet AH 946/1539-40 AD and one of the largest, most beautiful and historically important in the world. Rescued from the shrine of Shaykh Safi al-Din in Ardabil, Iran following an earthquake, the carpet was purchased by Ziegler & Co. and later passed into the hands of the Vincent Robinson company who successfully sold it in 1893 to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, for an enormous sum. In celebration of the sale Edward Stebbing, the Managing Director of Vincent Robinson, published a richly illustrated volume lauding the carpet, the result of which was a wealth of carpets woven with this design in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries not only in Iran but further afield, including India as seen here. Although the design has stayed true to the original in the present lot, the colour palette has been re-interpreted to remain in keeping with more modern interiors.