"HEAVEN IN A CARPET”
Islamic carpets from the fifteenth to the twentieth century

Table carpet with Ottoman floral decoration Egypt, Cairo, late 16th century 254 x 241 cm London, Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. no. 151-1883

"HEAVEN IN A CARPET”
Islamic carpets
from the fifteenth to the twentieth century
In collaboration with the
Institut du monde arabe (Paris)
Temporary Exhibition Gallery,
Lisbon, 6 May to 31 July 2005

This exhibition – jointly organised by the Institute of the Arab World, Paris, and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation – was open to the public in the French capital until the end of March. It will move to Lisbon, opening at the Foundation’s Temporary Exhibition Room on 6 May and closing on 31 July.

Starting before the Foundation’s fiftieth anniversary and half a century after the death of Calouste Gulbenkian, the exhibition pays tribute to a great collector who always showed such an interest in Oriental carpets. It will also make a major contribution to improving knowledge of a type of art that is so characteristic of Islamic culture yet little known in the West.

“Animal fighting“ carpet (detail) Iran, Kashan, mid-16th century Lisbon, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, inv. no..T 100

The pieces on display come from a vast range of regions stretching from Morocco to Central Asia. Produced between the fifteenth and the twentieth century, these exhibits – carefully selected by exhibition curators Roland Gilles and Joëlle Lemaistre, both leading specialists in this field – reflect the dominant decorative characteristics of Oriental carpets and simultaneously demonstrate the evolution of this art.

The carpets, whether produced in urban workshops using cartoons by artists and designers or produced in rural or tribal environments using the same motifs, all reveal the powerful influence of strong, incisive forms that seem to have fallen “from heaven”.
 

Large Pattern Holbein     Turkey, Western Anatolia, late 15th century Wool pile 118 x 132 cm

This selection of 56 carpets comes from some of the most prestigious public collections in the world, including the Museum of Islamic Art (Berlin), the Metropolitan Museum (New York), the Victoria & Albert Museum (London), the Museum of Decorative Arts (Paris) and the Textile Museum (Lyon). In conjunction with carpets from the Gulbenkian Collection, they demonstrate the decorative and symbolic richness of Oriental carpets.

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