This carpet is one of a small group of luxurious weavings notable for their extremely high knot density and entirely silk construction. While their appearance and feel is akin to velvet, the pattern is created by row upon row of minute, hand-tied knots of fine silk thread. Only about twenty carpets of this type are known to survive, four of which are in the Museum's collection. They are referred to as silk Kashan carpets, after a city in Iran where silk carpets are said to have been produced as early as the sixteenth century. The designs of these carpets, however, have been likened to works produced in the contemporary Safavid capital of Tabriz, suggesting a connection between Kashan and the royal design workshops of Tabriz.
Credit: Gift of Mrs. Douglas M. Moffat, 1958