NORTH WEST PERSIA, CIRCA 1930

The design of this large PETAG Tabriz is drawn from earlier 16th century Safavid, Kirman 'Vase' carpets. The term 'Vase' was first coined following an exhibition organised by May Beattie in 1976, which highlighted a group of carpets whose designs featured stylised vases from which the palmettes and flowering tendrils spring and which all shared a similar weaving technique. In most examples this design was directional, the vases appearing in alternating positions and being almost overshadowed by the massive palmettes. While the present carpet retains three separate planes of palmettes and linked leafy tendrils, as the original, the vases are no longer present and the colour palette has been adapted to suit more Western tastes.

The PETAG çintamani signature appears in one far corner of the rose-pink field.