The Seley Carpet

This is one of the finest Persian carpets known, produced at a time when the art of carpet weaving had achieved its greatest heights under the patronage of the Safavid shahs in the sixteenth century. Striking in the harmony of its pattern and color, this carpet combines the medallion scheme adapted from bookbindings with a field composed of a well-planned system of floral forms on scrolling vines and floating cloud bands of Chinese derivation.