Explaining the Structure of the Map and the Design Method of the Medallion Carpets of Safavid Era: Case Study (Anhalt Medallion Carpet)

The Safavid Era is one of the most significant periods in the promotion of Iranian art, especially in the design and production of carpets. During this Era, carpet weaving flourished and attention to the structure, size and composition of carpet designs caused a unique diversity in the design and motif of Iranian carpets, the effects of which continue to this day. One of the common types of carpets in the Safavid period is Medallion carpet, which is a function of the 1/4 method in terms of map structure. The structure of carpet maps and their design methods form the main shape of the carpet and other stages of carpet production are based on the map. The carpet map specifies where to place what pattern and what color this pattern should have and in what order its knots should be tied. However, the structural part of carpet maps has not been paid enough attention in recent years and more attention has been paid to the symbolic features of patterns in carpet maps, which is of course a proper and appropriate thing to do, but it should not lead to neglecting the principles governing the design of the map. Because this will cause irreparable damage to the structure of carpet designs over time. One of the important periods in the elevation of carpet maps in Iran is the Safavid period. In this period, the government's attention to carpet weaving led to the prosperity and expansion of this art in such a way that the carpets produced in the mentioned period are now the adornment of most museums in Iran and the world, and by referring to them, the map principles and the designs and motifs of Iran's carpets during the Safavid era can be understood and extracted, so they can be employed in the design of new maps. Medallion maps are one of the types of carpet maps in the Safavid period, which created a wide range of different compositions based on the decorations made in their context. In terms of the structure of the design and composition, these maps have five main parts of medallion, inscription, cartouche, field and border, which are divided into different types according to the characteristics of medallion and decorations used in the carpet field. In the initial survey and cursory look, the maps of Safavid era, in terms of the structure of the map and the design method, appear to be ¼, but with a closer look, it is clear that it is contrary to what is currently common, these maps have subtleties in design and composition that make their design method out of the ¼ structure. A medallion carpet known as Anhalt, which was produced in the early Safavid period, has a medallion design and the general structure of the map is 1/4. Considering that, this carpet has remained intact so far, it can convey useful information about the design method of Safavid carpets. This research has been done with the aim of explaining the structure and design method of Anhalt Medallion Carpet and seeks to reveal the hidden layers in the composition of the design of this carpet. The  research questions are: 1. What is the structure of Anhalt medallion carpet map? 2. How is the map of this carpet designed? The current research is a type of developmental research that was carried out using a descriptive-analytical method. The method of collecting information is literature review . The statistical population is the medallion carpets of the Safavid period in Iran, among which three items that are more similar in terms of external structure have been selected in a purposeful way, and after a brief review, a medallion carpet known as Anhalt is used as an example, has been further analyzed. The analysis of the research data was done qualitatively using the carpet map structure analysis method. In this method, first, the structure and various components of the carpet map are specified and each of these components is described. Then, the design method of each of these parts has been analyzed separately and the different layers of the design have been revealed.
The concept of structure in Medallion carpets
The term structure in the current research refers to the arrangement and arrangement of the elements in the carpet. Structure analysis in this research is examined from two perspectives. The first concept refers to the external structure of the work and means the format and the general body of the design. From this point of view, the studied carpets are placed in the group of medallion carpets of the Safavid period. In the second concept, the internal structure is intended and it examines and analyzes the placement and arrangement of elements and micro-motifs. In the definition of structure, Jean Piaget said: "Structure is the expression of a whole, that is, its parts have internal coordination and correlation". The structure of medallion carpets is also like a text, which its motifs and visual elements have a coherent system and internal correlation. The samples studied in this research are three of the medallion carpets woven during the Safavid period in Iran, which are currently kept in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The external structure of these carpets is similar to each other and consists of border, field, medallion, inscription, and, cartouche, so all these carpets can be included in the group of medallion rugs. But they are different in terms of internal structure and other motives. Anhalt Medallion Carpet was woven in the early Safavid period (the first half of the 16th century) and measures 419.1 x 792.5 cm. Its warp and weft are made of cotton and silk, and its pile is made of wool. This carpet is currently kept in the Metropolitan Museum of New York. Before its sale by Joseph Duveen to Samuel Kress, the carpet is reputed to have belonged to the Anhalt princess of Dessau, whose ancestors may have acquired it through military campaigns against the Ottoman Turks in the late seventeenth century. The structure of Safavid period medallion rugs can be examined from two point of view. A: The external structure of the carpet, which includes the overall composition of the design, and based on this, the external structure of these carpets consists of parts such as the border, the field, the border, the inscription, and the cartouche. B: The internal structure of the carpets, which includes other motives that are used to design and decorate the interior of the aforementioned sections, and are made of elements such as flowers, leaves, buds, arabesque, and pictures of birds and animals. The external structure of medallion rugs has a multi-layered composition. In the first layer, the general composition of the map is defined as ¼, and the location of borders, field, inscriptions, and cartouches is determined by using peripheral lines and color separators. In the second layer, the inner space of each component of the map of these carpets is decorated separately. The results of the research showed that the design and production of carpets in the Safavid period received the attention of the government and many carpets in different sizes and designs were produced in this period. One of the factors of diversity in the design and size of carpet maps in the Safavid period, in addition to the patronage of the court, is the collaboration of painters from royal workshops in preparing maps. Currently, most of the carpets related to this period are adorning the great museums of the world, and medallion carpets are one of the prominent examples that are decorated using curved maps and simple motifs. The map structure of medallion carpet, known as Anhalt, like the other two carpets, has a two-layer design. In the first layer, the overall composition of the map is done by ¼ method, and then in the second layer, each component of the carpet map is designed separately with a specific layer structure and is placed in the form of the overall composition of the map. Although the map of this rug looks like ¼ in general, but by analyzing the details of the design, including the medallion, inscriptions, cartouches, the field and the corners of the rug's edge, it was found that the details of each of the elements in the longitudinal direction of the carpet map, there are few differences and this has caused the map to go out of ¼ state and become ½. Therefore, it can be concluded that the weaving of this carpet, like other medallion carpets of the Safavid period, was done by the ½ method.