Caring For Ardabil Carpet

Caring for Ardabil Carpets

Containing quintessential design, extensive creativity and, not to mention, a remarkable place in history, the Ardabil carpets are easily differentiated from any other. Although these carpets are centuries old, have traveled to a variety of locations and even experienced damage as the result of an earthquake, they still possess the incomparable beauty that's all their own. However, in order to maintain such beauty, museums have to be very careful and extremely specific when caring for, and also displaying these carpets.

The Ardabil at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Considered one of the museum's most important pieces of art, the Ardabil is meticulously maintained. This is the Ardabil carpet that lost its border in order to help restore the other Ardabil in London, it is extremely delicate. There were many repairs that had to be made. When a new border was added to the carpet, this weakened the original carpet fibers, since different dyeing and processing methods were used. In addition, due to previous cleaning processes, the carpet was experiencing small rips and tears each time it was unrolled, and the museum owners put it at risk each time it was displayed.

The staff at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was so concerned with keeping the carpet true to its original glory that they sent it off to the Historic Royal Palaces Textile Conservation Studios at Hampton Court Palace, near London, to have it cleaned. Because of the carpets massive size, this was one of the few places that had a table big enough to hold the carpet in a safe manner. For nine months, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art worked closely with the Historic Royal Palaces Textile Conservation Studios to develop a safe cleaning product for the carpet. In addition, they added strong fabrics to the back of the carpet for better support when unrolling it.

Khosrow Sobhe
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.rugidea.com
310-770-9085