International conference Art and Religious in pre-Islamic Central Asia October 24 – 26, 2016 Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology, Krakow

The so-called Polish carpets were once believed to be woven on Polish looms, even though—as we now understand—they were (most likely) manufactured in the Persian cities of Kashan and Isfahan. Yet, the misattribution of these objects’ origins is still evident in the phrase by which they are referred to in most English-language art-historical accounts, ‘the so-called Polish carpets’. This essay explores the history of conceptualising these carpets’ artistic geography, from art historians’ belief in their fictional Polish provenience, to their appreciation as some of the most valuable Safavid-era Persian carpets, to recent attempts to move away from defining these objects’ geographic roots in definite terms. With conflicting theories about their artistic geographies vying for attention, ‘the so-called Polish carpets’ are serving here as a springboard for rethinking the spatial dimension of the practice of naming in Art History, particularly the paradox inherent in the idea of artistic origins.

After the Prophet’s mosque at Medina was enlarged to receive the millions of visitors making the pilgrimage prescribed by the Prophet, the footprint of the mosque as expanded and modified under Umayyad caliph Al-Walid in 707–11 AD continued to protrude on the southern side (Fig 1). Arguably, the narrative and descriptive record of the mosque and the carpet of Chosroes, show the impact of this sumptuous early war trophy, which, as a direct result, went on to transform much later industry. ----- The rather general descriptions of the carpet can be expanded considerably when examined in terms of the Qur’anic tax system, legal methods of measuring and valuing land, and legal ways of paying the members of a victorious army with land. The descriptions may also be set against surviving historic zardosi work (gold work), a rich, almost sculptural form of embroidery featuring metallic gold and silver threads, colored silks and often also real or imitation gemstones. ----- The narrative record of both carpet and mosque can be matched against the inferred and known development of the Prophet’s mosque, especially the area beside the Prophet’s tomb, which is known as Al Rauda (The Garden). Then, in the 15th century a fire destroyed the mosque, and with it (I suggest) the khums (one fifth) of the carpet originally accepted as tax. When the mosque was rebuilt, a sudden “explosion” of carpet development suggests the continuing influence of descriptions of the now-lost carpet.

Life is full of and driven by symbols of all kinds. There is almost an unlimited number of visual symbols throughout the world used by countless cultures to represent them, their rituals, their beliefs, their connection to the world and to each other. One way that Jews maintained contact with each other over the centuries, without inviting unwanted suspicion, was sending non-verbal messages via common objects laced within the material culture of their adopted homes. It is well known that Jews, since the year 70 CE, have sojourned, to use the Biblical term, in countries where they were considered outsiders, or what today we would call “the other.” They were people without a land of their own and dispersed to every country and in almost every region on Earth, either voluntarily or under duress. Jews have always found a subtle “secret” way of communicating with each other even at a distance, perhaps just to say that “you are not alone” or even more specific messages that have yet to be...