Carpets and symbolism- with Carl

In our session with Carl, he discussed with us the relevance of carpets within paintings. We looked at how Renaissance paintings and baroque paintings help in tracing back dates with reference to studying carpets.

The European artists made no attempt to de-Islamisize the carpets that they used within their paintings, even though the Islamic world and the European world weren’t on the best terms.

One theory states that the carpet symbolizes a trophy, after the Islamic world was conquered by the European world. But why were carpets used and not other objects? One reason could be that carpet weaving was an ancient and expensive artform that was significant to the Islamic world and it showed materialistic wealth.

How did different cultures utilize carpets? (By looking at and studying paintings)

As prayer mats, for social interaction, feasts, etc.

In the west they carpets were used to show status within the society. And in the east, it was almost sacred and poetic. But the person of importance always sat upon the carpet in both style of paintings.

I understood a lot of what Carl was saying when I did my research for the final project; understanding trade, cultural exchange, symbolism, etc.