The unique design of this carpet does not match any of the usual styles of knotted carpets. The Pompeian allusions may indicate some association with some of the carpets and tapestries made during the reign of Charles III of Spain, but the atypical inclusion of figurative motifs makes that link tenuous. The design centres on a large, oval central medallion with the appearance of a blue sky surrounded by climbing vines.

The rest of the field is beige and is made up of a number of stand-out decorative panels on blue and pink backgrounds, all drawn in mixtilinear strokes (i.e. combining straight and curved lines) with golden ferronnerie motifs.

A series of such panels are embroidered all around the edge of the carpet, as if hanging from a bar. Within the pink interiors, the panels contain a variety of motifs taken from nature. Most depict birds with bright plumage (facing each other or drinking from a fountain), but there are also two pastoral motifs flanking the corners. Within the pink interiors, the panels contain a variety of motifs taken from nature. Most depict birds with bright plumage (facing each other or drinking from a fountain), but there are also two pastoral motifs flanking the corners. At the cornerpieces themselves, colourful bunches of flowers hang from pink ribbons against a blue background, while the corners of the field are marked with large ferronnerie decorations. They are arranged in a bisector pattern, i.e. following the diagonal of the corner, and form a tripod shape with platters of flowers on a mixed pink and blue background. On either side, there are garlands of flowers with more ferronnerie panels or cartouches. On one side they extend towards the panels along the vertical axis of the carpet, and on the other towards another set of panels containing two large birds with long bills.

The carpet is edged with a broad orange-ochre selvedge. The entire composition clearly draws on paintings from Pompeii and grotteschi, sharing the same ornamental spirit to be found on the frescoes and mosaics of classical antiquity. Grotteschi became a common feature of Western art after the sixteenth-century discovery of the grotte at Nero’s Domus Aurea, while the mosaics of Pompeii and Herculaneum joined the canon following mid-eighteenth-century archaeological digs at the two sites. The two forms of decoration spread through engravings and illustrations, which subsequently served as the inspiration for murals, plaster ceilings and applied art works of all kinds. They were widely used in tapestries and also on Spanish-made carpets from the reign of Charles III and Charles IV, testifying to the Europewide impact of the archaeological finds in Campania during Charles III’s time as Viceroy of Naples.

The composition of the carpet is reminiscent of eighteenth-century ceilings, which often drew inspiration from neoclassical carpet designs. However, a more careful examination reveals that they were most directly inspired by tapestries; more specifically by a group of tapestries of grotesques, originally used as bed hangings (now Series 31 of the Spanish National Heritage (Patrimonio Nacional) collection). They date from the reign of King Philip II of Spain (ca. 1560) and show how this new type of decoration became popular in the courts of Europe following the archaeological discoveries of Raphael and his closest collaborators, particularly Giovanni da Udine. The designer of the carpet was directly inspired by certain details from Panel 2 of the set of hangings: birds drinking from bowls of water, waders arranged on ferronnerie panels on either side of flower vases and pastoral symbols and trophies.

They also depict vines with leaves and bunches of grapes and ferronnerie-style architecture. The manufacturer’s marks are displayed on the selvedge: ‘REAL FÁBRICA DE TAPICES’ [Royal Tapestry Works] and ‘STUYCK = MADRID 1943’. This shows that the carpet was woven at the tapestry works in Atocha in 1943, during the directorship of Gabino Stuyck San Martín; as might be expected of such a ‘scholarly’ design. The directors’ familiarity with the royal collections would have been a contributing factor in the use of elements from Philip II’s grotesque tapestries. A cartoon has been found in the historical archive of the Royal Tapestry Works (1544 ALF) whose design, although not an exact match, has many similarities with that of Carpet A_137, and is certainly inspired by Tapestry Nº 2 of Series 31 at the Patrimonio Nacional.

Antonio Sama