Three Safavid Rugs from the Shah NiʻMatullāh Valī Shrine In Mahan in The National Museum of Bosnia And Herzegovina Cover Image

Tri safavidska tepiha iz turbeta šaha Niʻmatullāha Valīja u Mahanu iz zbirke Zemaljskog muzeja BiH
Three Safavid Rugs from the Shah NiʻMatullāh Valī Shrine In Mahan in The National Museum of Bosnia And Herzegovina

Author(s): Fatima Žutić
Subject(s): Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Museology & Heritage Studies, Visual Arts, Islam studies, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, 17th Century
Published by: Orijentalni Institut u Sarajevu
Keywords: Islamic art; Oriental carpets; Persian 17th century carpets; vase style; dated carpets; inscriptions on carpets; Austro-Hungarian cultural policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina;

Summary/Abstract: The paper examines seven fragments that make up a set of three similar carpets in the so-called vase style of knotting. The carpets are from the shrine of Shah Niʻmatullāh Valīj in Mahan, Iran, dating back to the 17th century and held at the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. All three carpets include cartouches with inscriptions in Persian woven inside. Two of the carpets are dated, and two include a signature of the waver. The international scholarly community is particularly interested in these carpets because they are dated. This is very rare in early Oriental carpets, and it helps date an entire group with greater certainty. The paper examines the origin of these fragments, the path they crossed from the original location in the shrine dedicated to Shah Niʻmatullāh Valī in Mahan, Iran, to Sarajevo, their place in the vase style carpets, structural analysis and weaving technique, their current condition and appearance and their overall significance in the study of carpets. The author has already touched upon these issues in a recent paper published in the Hali Magazine published in London. This paper focuses on additional facts related to the fragemnts, not included in the paper published in the UK; the most important new element is that we have been able to reconstruct the original appearance and the position of all three carpets of irregular shape, weaved to fit around the cenotaph inside the shrine.

  • Issue Year: 2018
  • Issue No: 67
  • Page Range: 299-326
  • Page Count: 28
  • Language: Bosnian