The Girdler’s carpet is an extremely important carpet. Normally we can only speculate about the history of a carpet but in this case we have a direct evidentiary trail leading from Lahore in the 1630s to present day England. There are no gaps; no mystery, the entire history of this rug is accounted for. Now if only we had a detailed structural description but more about that latter. This carpet was ordered by Robert Bell from the royal workshops in Lahore in 1634 and was given as a gift to the Girdlers' Company in the same year. Bell was Master of the Girdlers' Company and also a director of the East India Company. The East India Company has intact records 1. Showing where and when the carpet was ordered and the carpet is still in the possession of the Girdlers' Company. The Girdlers' Carpet is a floral carpet, 27 feet by 8 feet. Five shields or coats of arms are arraigned along the major axis." 2. The repertoire of floral forms is a familiar one to this project. The three tone serrated leaf is used extensively as is the blossom lancets and typical early Mughal palmettes. The structure of this carpet is still somewhat a point of conjecture. I have been unable to locate a detailed structural description. So I fall back on a footnote where Charles Grant Ellis placed this carpet in a group of carpets with carpets of generally similar structure that both he and I attribute to Lahore. 3. The question about this carpet arose when Dr. Murray Eiland Jr. read an early draft of this project and he expressed some concerns. Eiland indicated that to the best of his knowledge Ellis never personally did a structural analysis on this carpet. 4. Since Eiland and Ellis worked together on a number of projects including a commentary of the reprint of F. R. Martin’s book Old Oriental Carpets from Before 1800 in Oriental Rug Review it is very probable that this is a carpet that Eiland and Ellis would have discussed. Eiland went on to say that he had it from a reliable source that the Girdler’s carpet only has 5 ply warps. A carpet with five ply warps could be in our group and then again it might not. Until we get confirmation of structure we are at a loss. However with the existent documentation of provenance make the inclusion of this rug in both the related and the Lahore category seem a safe assumption. (A Detailed Structural Analysis of the Girdlers Carpet has since become available.) Author's Note: The picture is of a painting of the carpet as the carpet itself is not available to photograph. 1. Kendrick, A. F. and Tattersall, C. E. C. Hand Woven Carpets. (1922 rpt. New York: Dover Publications, 1973) p.40. 2. Stone, Peter. The Oriental Rug Lexicon. (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997), p. 193. 3. F. R. Martin, "A History Of Oriental Carpets Before 1800." Oriental Rug Review Vol. VI, No. 3 June 1986 p. 17/65a. 4. Eiland, Jr. Murray, Telephone Conversation, August 1997. Carpets With High Ply Count Cotton Warps, The Widener Mughal Animal Carpet For Further Reading: Thanks and best wishes, J. Barry O'Connell Jr. |
Persian Rugs the O'Connell Guides | ||||||||||
