Safavid workshop

The Anhalt Medallion Carpet, a knotted-pile carpet made in Iran probably in the first half of the sixteenth century, is the work of a weaver whose name is not known.

Its warp is cotton, its weft is silk and its pile is wool, tied with asymmetrical knots. Its design includes peacocks, flowers and vines.

The carpet measures 312 by 165 inches (792.5 by 419.1 centimeters). Rolled on an 8-inch tube, it weighs 184 pounds (83.5 kilograms).

The Samuel H. Kress Foundation gave the carpet to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1946 (accession number 46.128). It is part of the museum’s Islamic Art collection.