page_title: Oriental carpets in Renaissance painting
section_title: Objects of luxury and decoration
hierarchical_section_title: Oriental carpets in Renaissance painting / Perception of Oriental carpets during the Renaissance / Objects of luxury and decoration
caption_attribution_description: Polish&#58; Martwa natura z globusem i papugą kakadutitle QS:P1476,pl:"Martwa natura z globusem i papugą kakadu" label QS:Lpl,"Martwa natura z globusem i papugą kakadu"
context_page_description: Carpets of Middle-Eastern origin, either from Anatolia, Persia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Levant, the Mamluk state of Egypt or Northern Africa, were used as decorative features in Western European paintings from the 14th century onwards. More depictions of Oriental carpets in Renaissance painting survive than actual carpets contemporary with these paintings. Few Middle-Eastern carpets produced before the 17th century remain, though the number of these known has increased in recent decades. Therefore, comparative art-historical research has from its onset in the late 19th century relied on carpets represented in datable European paintings.
context_section_description: We do not understand exactly how Renaissance artists thought about the Oriental carpets they were depicting. We know that the Venetian Piazza San Marco was adorned with carpets hanging from the windows of the surrounding palaces and houses on special occasions. Like the beautiful ladies looking out of the windows, the carpets function as a decorative framework, and highlight the important action which is going on. Similar to the inaccurate pseudo-kufic writing in contemporary paintings, the European artists borrowed something from another culture which they, essentially, did not understand.
  In a series of letters from Venice dated 18 August – 13 October 1506, the German painter Albrecht Dürer tells his friend Willibald Pirckheimer about his efforts to buy two carpets for him in Venice:
  Vnd dy 2 tebich will mir Anthoni Kolb awff daz hubschpt, preytest vnd wolfeillest helfen khawffen. So jch sy hab, will jch sy dem jungen Im Hoff geben, daz er ys ewch einschlache. Awch will jch sehen noch den kranchs federen.
  "Anthoni Kolb will help me buying 2 carpets, the nicest, broadest and cheapest [we can get]. As soon as I have them, I will hand them over to the young Im Hoff, and he will prepare them for transport. I will look for crane feathers as well."
  (18 August 1506)
  Jtem allen fleis hab jch an kertt mit den tewichen, kan aber kein preiten an kumen. Sy sind al schmall vnd lang. Aber noch hab jch altag forschung dornoch, awch der Anthoni Kolb.
  
  "I've done all I could with the carpets, but I cannot get any of the broad ones. They are all narrow and oblong. I'm continuing my search every day, Anthoni Kolb as well."
  (8 September 1506)
  Jch hab awch zwen dewich bestelt, dy würd jch morgen tzalen. Aber jch hab sy nit wolfell kunen kawffen.
  
  "I've ordered two carpets, and will pay for them tomorrow. But I could not buy at a cheap price."
  
  (13 October 1506)
  — Albrecht Dürer, letters from Venice to Willibald Pirckheimer
  Dürer was buying various exotic luxury goods for Pirckheimer in Venice, and he mentions the two carpets amongst gold, jewels, and crane feathers. We do not know if Dürer in any way attributed artistic value to these carpets. No Oriental carpets were ever depicted by Dürer.
  A very common type of genre painting of the Dutch Golden Age and Flemish Baroque, the so-called Merry Company type of painting, depicts a group of people enjoying themselves, usually seated with drinks, and often music-making. In these pictures, Oriental carpets often cover and decorate the table, or are spread over the furniture. As such, they either underline the wealth and respectability of the portrayed, or add a context of exoticism and profligacy to brothel scenes, or scenes of debauchery.
  By the 16th century, Oriental carpets were often depicted in still life paintings. Assorted valuable, exotic objects like Chinese porcelain bowls and animals like parrots are depicted, often with an allegorical meaning, or symbolizing "vanitas", the futility of human life. The allusion to futility is made apparent by the inclusion of symbols like a human skull, or inscriptions quoting the biblical book of Ecclesiastes 1:2;12:8. As early as 1533, Hans Holbein's painting The Ambassadors prominently shows an anamorphic projection of a human skull. Objects in still life paintings, regardless of their allegorical meaning, are often placed on precious velvet table cloths, marble plates, or Oriental carpets. As such, Oriental carpets are treated similar to other precious objects or materials, the focus being on their material value and decorative effect.
caption: Pieter Boel, Still life with globe and parrot, circa 1658
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