A garden, woven
This week: an eighteenth-century garden carpet and the pleasure of looking slowly.
Fragment of a Garden Carpet, 18th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915. Object 30.95.150. Public Domain.
This eighteenth-century carpet fragment is attributed to northwestern Iran or Kurdistan. Its garden is seen from above: waterways divide planted spaces filled with trees, flowers and birds. The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds the work in its collection.
Look first at the long central waterway, then follow the smaller channels. Notice how the repeated shapes give the eye a route through the crowded pattern. Which detail holds your attention when you stop trying to take in the whole surface?
Online exhibition · 2–8 November 2026. This is a digital artwork selection, not a local museum event.