Garden Paradise: The Magnificent Safavid Carpet from the Burrell Collection, Glasgow November 2, 2018–February 10, 2019
Wagner Garden Carpet, central Iran, early 17th century, cotton warp; wool, cotton, and silk wefts; and wool pile, the Burrell Collection, Glasgow.
Installation view of Garden Paradise: The Magnificent Safavid Carpet from the Burrell Collection, Glasgow.
Wagner Garden Carpet (detail), central Iran, early 17th century, cotton warp; wool, cotton, and silk wefts; and wool pile, the Burrell Collection, Glasgow.
Star Tile, Iran, Kashan or Takht-i Sulayman, late 13th century, stonepaste; luster and cobalt painted on opaque white glaze, the Hossein Afshar Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Possibly by Muhammad Baqir, Blue Iris, Iran, 18th–19th century, opaque watercolor and ink on paper, the Hossein Afshar Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Bowl, Iran, Tabriz or Nishapur, mid-15th–early 16th century, stonepaste; underglaze painted in black under turquoise glaze, incised, the Hossein Afshar Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Kendi-Shaped Qalian (Hookah) Base, Iran, Kirman or Isfahan, early to mid-17th century, stonepaste; painted in blue and black under transparent glaze, the Hossein Afshar Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Plate with Irises, Iran, Kirman, late 17th century, stonepaste; luster painted on opaque white glaze, the Hossein Afshar Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
“A world of poetic serenity”
—Houston Chronicle
Garden Paradise: The Magnificent Safavid Carpet from the Burrell Collection, Glasgow explores the importance of the garden to Islamic culture through the lens of the renowned Wagner Garden Carpet. This rarely displayed masterpiece, woven in southeastern Iran in the 17th century, is one of the three earliest surviving Persian garden carpets in the world.
Exhibited in America for the first time, the Wagner Garden Carpet is on loan from the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, Scotland. The presentation comes to Houston following its debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Garden Paradise also features a selection of objects from the collection of Kuwait-based Hossein Afshar, who has made a long-term loan commitment to the MFAH. Together these important works of art demonstrate the profound appeal of garden imagery across all artistic media, from ceramics and metalwork to the arts of the book in Islamic lands. The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to explore a central topic of Islamic art and culture within the context of a one-of-a-kind masterwork.
Garden Paradise: The Magnificent Safavid Carpet from the Burrell Collection, Glasgow | November 2, 2018–February 10, 2019
Related Publication
The Legacy of Persian Art: Masterpieces from the Hossein Afshar Collection is available through the MFA Shop (713.639.7360) and the Museum’s Hirsch Library (713.639.7325).
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