Material Networks: The Chehel Sotun Carpet Between Iran and the Deccan
with Margaret Squires
This talk traces the little-known history of a massive carpet woven in the Deccan for the Chehel Sotun palace in seventeenth-century Isfahan. Dismantled and dispersed in the late nineteenth century, the carpet, said to have measured a staggering 9 by 18 meters, now survives as fragments scattered across at least eleven collections worldwide.
By digitally reconstructing the complete carpet through technical analysis of the fragments, archival sources, and architectural evidence, this research reveals an object shaped by transcultural networks connecting Safavid Iran and the Deccan sultanates. Attention to the distinct material and technical qualities of the fragments is key for understanding the dialogue that took place not only between those who ordered and oversaw the carpet’s production, but the network of designers and weavers who conceived and executed this extraordinarily ambitious project.
This talk will also touch on the carpet’s nineteenth and twentieth century afterlives, during which it was transformed from an integral lining of the palace to a collectible object of fascination.
About the speaker:
Margaret Squires holds a PhD in the History of Art from The Courtauld Institute of Art (2024), where her research centred on carpets and their architectural contexts in Safavid Iran. Prior to her PhD, she completed an MA in the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2018) and a BA in Middle Eastern languages and literatures at the University of Virginia (2016). She has held both curatorial, teaching, and consulting roles at institutions including The Courtauld Institute of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the School of Oriental and African Studies. While her research interests span the arts of the early modern Persianate world, she has particular expertise in carpets and textiles.
She is currently a postdoctoral teaching fellow at The Courtauld Institute of Art and is preparing a book manuscript based on her dissertation research.