The Ardabil Carpet

We had a day to spend in London, so we arranged to meet one of my Editor's cousins (who lives in Teddington) at the Victoria and Albert Museum. After the essential cup of coffee in the cafe we had a good look round some of the exhibits. The one which intrigues me the most was this carpet. (It's so big I had to take a panoramic shot to get it all in - it's really rectangular.) They only turn on the lights above it for 10 minutes every half hour because of the risk of making it fade - and even then they're rather dim ones so the phone camera did a reasonable job.)

This is the largest of two Ardabil carpets (the other being in the Los Angeles Museum of Art). It measures 34ft 3 in x almost 17ft 7in; apparently both carpets are now smaller than they would have been originally. This is one of the largest and finest carpets in existence. It is said to have taken 4 years to weave, being completed in about 1540 in Persia during the rule of the Safavid Shah Tahmasp I. The other details of its history seems somewhat disputed but it was purchased for the museum in March 1893 for £2,000. Apparently there are 5,300 knots in every 10cm square (304 knots per square inch).

As I write this it's now evening and we're in a hotel at Gatwick Airport: we're off tomorrow to Toronto (again!) to see our not-quite-so-little grandson Paddy again (and his Mum & Dad of course!).