The Ardabil Carpets

Malibu, CA: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1974. Paperback. VG- (Wraps are lightely edgeworn and toned; textblock edges are lightly worn, smudged and foxed; interior is clean; binding is solid.). Colorfully illustrated wraps with black lettering; 50 pp.; richly illustrated. "The Ardabil Carpet is the world's oldest dated carpet and one of the largest, most beautiful and historically important.
It was made in the town of Ardabil in north-west Iran, the burial place of Shaykh Safi al-Din Ardabili, who died in 1334. The Shaykh was a Sufi leader, ancestor of Shah Ismail, founder of the Safavid dynasty (1501-1722). While the exact origins of the carpet are unclear, it's believed to have been commissioned by the court for the shrine of the Shaykh, which, by the 16th century, had became a place of pilgrimage." -- Victoria and Albert Museum, London.