Paradise underfoot: a Persian carpet at Nuffield Place

The rise and fall, and rise of the carpet industry in Iran
The classical era of Persian carpet production is generally undestood to have been the Safavid era of carpet weaving, between 1500 – 1700. In 1598, Safavid ruler Shah Abbas I moved the capital of Persia to Isfahan. The city entered a cultural golden age and the carpet industry flourished and boomed.This carpet has been attributed to Isfahan, but also has features linking it to Kerman as a potential place of production.
Following the Afghan Invasion in 1722, Isfahan was dethroned as the capital city and the carpet industry fell dormant for over a century. From the 19th century onwards, Persian carpets were mostly created for Western middle and upper classes to decorate their homes.
The carpet industry re-emerged in the mid-19th century using alternate materials for export to the West – specifically wool and yarns made from both natural and synthetic dyes.


Nature, the divine and Ramadan
Spring is the time for one of the biggest holidays in the religious calendar: Ramadan.
Ramadan is one of the Five Pillars of Islam and takes place over the ninth month in the Muslim calendar, when the Qur’an was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. Believers fast from food and liquid during daylight hours, and the physical fast creates a sense of empathy for the suffering of others. Restraint from the desire to eat and drink also becomes a means of accelerating a spiritual connection with the divine through self-awareness.
The calligraphy on this amulet from the collection at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire contains verses from the Qur’an. Over the month of Ramadan the entire Qur’an is recited. For many Muslims, the calligraphy of sacred text from the Qur'an is the highest form of Islamic art.