Title
Admiral Heraldic Carpet
Generic classification
TextilesObject
CarpetDate
ca. 1429-1473Century
15th c.Cultural context / style
Medieval. Spanish-IslamicDimensions
19 feet 3/4 in x 8 feet 9 1/8 inMaterial
WoolTechnique
WovenIconography / Theme
HeráldicaProvenance
Monastery of Santa Clara, Palencia (Palencia, Spain)Current location
Philadelphia Museum of Art (Filadelfia, United States)Inventory Number in Current Collection
1955-65-21Object history
This carpet belongs to the group of medieval Spanish carpets known as Alfombras del Almirante (Admiral's Carpets), with the coat of arms of the Admiral of Castile. This was one of the carpets that the Enriquez family donated to the monastery of Santa Clara in Palencia, where they exercised their patronage and where they were buried. The main production centre for this type of work was between the towns of Letur and Alcaraz, in what is now the province of Albacete (formerly the Kingdom of Murcia). This carpet was exhibited at the Historical-European Exhibition in Madrid in 1892, with the monastery of Santa Clara in Palencia as an exhibitor; a few years after this event it left the monastery. It was acquired in 1909 by the antiquities dealer Lionel Harris, founder of the firm The Spanish Art Gallery in London, who presented it in 1910 at the great exhibition devoted to Islamic art in Munich, together with another carpet from the same group, also presented by Harris. Years later, on the occasion of the Exhibition of Spanish Carpets organised by the Spanish Society of Friends of Art in Madrid, it was pointed out that precisely those carpets by Mr. Harris ‘acquired notoriety on the occasion of the Munich Exhibition of 1910 and gave rise to a series of articles published by Sarre, Kühnel, Thomson and Van de Put’. The carpet was later acquired by the Reverend Charles F. Williams, and from that private collection in Norristown, Pennsylvania, was acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1955.
Description
The carpet is very long, more than four metres, and combines the typical characteristics of this set of carpets: woven according to the ‘Spanish knot’ technique, decorative motifs with geometric designs, octagons enclosing figures, the great coats of arms of the Admiral of Castile, repeated three times in the centre of the composition, and kufic motifs bordering the central field. It is a beautiful testimony to the cultural hybridisation between the Christian kingdoms and the Islamic tradition that was achieved in textile production on the Iberian Peninsula during the 15th century.
Locations
1909
1909
dealer/antiquarian
The Spanish Art Gallery, London, London (United Kingdom) *
1955
private collection
Charles F. Williams, Norristown, Pennsylvania (United States) *
1955 - present
Bibliography
- BEATTIE, M. H. (1986): "The Admiral Rugs of Spain. An analysis and clasification of their field design", en Oriental Carpet & Textile Studies II, Carpets of the Mediterranean Countries 1400-1600 (actas de la 4th International Conference on Oriental Carpets, Londres, 1983)., Hali Magazine, Londres, pp. 271-289, il. 12.
- FERRANDIZ TORRES, José (1933): Exposición de alfombras antiguas españolas. Catálogo general ilustrado. Sociedad Española de Amigos del Arte, Espasa-Calpe, Madrid.
- KÜHNEL, E. (1911): Las artes musulmanas de España en la Exposición de Munich, vol. I, en Museum, pp. 429-431.
- LAVADO PARADINAS, Pedro José (1985): "Alfombras del almirante o alfombras de Tierra de Campos", en Actas de las III Jornadas de Cultura Árabe e Islámica , Instituto Hispano-Árabe de Cultura, Madrid, pp. 317-326.
- SARRE, Friedrich (1910): "Die Teppiche auf der Mohammedanischen Ausstellung in München", vol. XIII, nº 486, en Kunst und Kunsthandwerk.
- THOMSON, George W. (1910): "Hispano-moresque carpets", vol. XVIII, nº 106, en Burlington Magazine.
- VAN DE PUT, A. (1911): "Some Fifteenth-Century Spanish carpets", vol. 19, nº 102, en Burlington Magazine, pp. 310, 344-350..
- VAN DE PUT, A. (1910): "Hispano-Moresque Carpets", vol. 18, nº 92, en Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, pp. 100-103, 106-109.
Record manager
María José Martínez RuizCitation:
María José Martínez Ruiz, "Admiral Heraldic Carpet" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/119
Admiral Carpet
Philadelphia Museum of Art. Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.
