Dragon Carpet

"Dragon" Carpet

The class of carpets referred to as "dragon" rugs were named after the fabulous beast that is an integral part of the design, particularly prominent in the oldest surviving examples of this type of the earlier seventeenth century. This colorful and forceful geometric design was executed on a red ground, with the compartments of the diaper pattern formed of overlapping or touching ivory or blue leaves with serrated edges. The lozenges appear to be offset rows enclosing various vertical palmette shapes and alternative rows of dragons seperated by other forms of palmettes or leaves. The stylized dragons with their leafy or hooklike appendages face toward or away from each other on either side of a floral element that also serves the function of seperating the vertical points of the diaper. There are six complete dragons in the field, and six partial animals along the edges. The Caucasian version of this fantastic creature is placed vertically, differing considerably from its Chinese prototype or the Iranian or Anatolian models, which show the animal in a horizontal position. The border is similar to the one on the now fragmentary Graf carpet in Berlin, which has a stylized, angular leaf scroll bearing rosettes changing with palmettes with pendant bifurcated leaves.

Carolyn Kane in [Berlin 1981]

James F. Ballard, St. Louis, MO (until 1922; gifted to MMA)

Loan Exhibition of Oriental Rugs from the Collection of James F. Ballard of St. Louis, MO.. no. 34, p. 14, ill. (b/w).

Breck, Joseph, and Frances Morris. "The Metropolitan Museum of Art." In The James F. Ballard Collection of Oriental Rugs. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1923. no. 16, p. 11, ill. (b/w).

Dimand, Maurice S. A Handbook of Muhammedan Decorative Arts. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1930. pp. 258–59, ill.

Dimand, Maurice S. A Handbook of Muhammadan Art. 2nd rev. and enl. ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1944. p. 319, ill. fig. 212 (b/w).

Dimand, Maurice S., and Jean Mailey. Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1973. no. 158, pp. 266, 277, ill. fig. 227 (b/w).

"Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York." In The Arts of Islam. Berlin, 1981. no. 98, pp. 234–35, ill. (b/w).

Taghiyeva, Roya. Azerbaijani Carpet Encyclopedia. Baku, Sharg-Garb, 2017. pp. 199–205, ill. p. 205 (color).

Denny, Walter B. How to Read Islamic Carpets. New Haven and London: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014. pp. 82–83, ill. figs. 69–70.