Three Safavid Rugs From the Shah Ni‘Matullah Vali Shrine in Mahan in the National Museum Of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

The paper examines seven fragments that make up a set of three similar carpets in the so-called vase style of knotting. The carpets are from the shrine of Shah Ni‘matullah Valij in Mahan, Iran, dating back to the 17th  century and held at the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. All three carpets include cartouches with inscriptions in Persian woven inside. Two of the carpets are dated, and two include a signature of the waver. The international scholarly community is particularly interested in these carpets because they are dated. This is very rare in early Oriental carpets, and it helps date an entire group with greater certainty. The paper examines the origin of these fragments, the path they crossed from the original location in the shrine dedicated to Shah Ni‘matullah Vali in Mahan, Iran, to Sarajevo, their place in the vase style carpets, structural analysis and weaving technique, their current condition and appearance and their overall significance in the study of carpets. The author has already touched upon these issues in a recent paper published in the Hali Magazine published in London. This paper focuses on additional facts related to the fragemnts, not included in the paper published in the UK; the most important new element is that we have been able to reconstruct the original appearance and the position of all three carpets of irregular shape, weaved to fit around the cenotaph inside the shrine.