Museum of Islamic Art - photos
Photos and information of a selection of exhibits shown at the Museum of Islamic Art, located in the Pergamon Museum on the Berlin Museum Island.
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Turkey, Mid-15th century - 16th century
wool, knotted, symmetrical
height: 164 cm, width: 91 cm
The carpet is the only preserved example of this kind in the world.
In 1886 Wilhelm von Bode bought the Turkish carpet in Rome with the Chinese motif of the fight between the dragon and the phoenix. He discovered a similar carpet in an Italian wall fresco from 1440, a reproduction of which is shown on the right (see the detailed photo above):
Domenico di Bartolo [1400-1447]
Mural painting in the Ospedale di Santa Maria della Scala, Siena, around 1440. Similarities with the carpet on the mural suggest that the motif of the Dragon-Phoenix carpets must have existed at the same time or even earlier.
Bodes Method:
Bode worked like a detective when researching historical carpets. To determine the age of a carpet, he compared carpets to similar carpets that he discovered in Renaissance paintings. According to Bode, the carpet in question had to be at least as old, or even older, than the painting on which it was depicted. Bode's ante-quem-method ["before the time"] is still relevant today and is called the "Berlin School."
(From texts in the Museum of Islamic Art Berlin)
© Photos: Haupt & Binder
Photos and information of a selection of exhibits shown at the Museum of Islamic Art, located in the Pergamon Museum on the Berlin Museum Island.