Rug
- DATE:
- c. 1600–1650
- MATERIAL AND TECHNIQUE:
- Wool
- CLASSIFICATION:
- Carpets
- DIMENSIONS:
- 128 × 59 in. (3 m 25.12 cm × 149.86 cm)
- DEPARTMENT:
- Decorative Arts and Design
- LOCATION:
- Wendy and Emery Reves Collection - Great Hall, Level 3
- CREDIT LINE:
- Dallas Museum of Art, The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection
- COPYRIGHT:
- Image courtesy Dallas Museum of Art
- OBJECT NUMBER:
- 1985.R.108
General Description
The scrollwork containing griffins and urns found in this rug's borders is of Renaissance origin. But the bold baroque design used for the central panel, featuring palmettes contained in oval wreaths of foliage, was popular on 17th-century silk damask fabrics from Italy, Spain, and France. Consequently, this rug cannot date earlier than that period.
Characteristic of later Spanish production is the limited color range found in this rug. While a change in consumer taste could account for this shift, the importation of new dyestuffs, such as cochineal from the New World, as well as the exodus of skilled Jewish dyers, may also have been responsible.
Excerpt from
Dallas Museum of Art, Decorative Arts Highlights from the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection (Dallas, Texas: Dallas Museum of Art, 1995), 32.
Web Resources
YouTube
Learn more about the origin of Alcaraz rugs in Spain.