ABSTRACT
Following the tradition of many Moslem rulers of working daily with their hands and being expert in at least one handicraft, Shah Tahmasp I is himself reputed to have woven carpets in Tabriz. (A small Tabrizi dated 1542 is in my collection.) Chardin (Voyages, Langles ed., 181 I, Vol. VII, pp. 330 ff.), and Tavernier (Les six voyages, Paris, 1681, pp. 361 if.) give valuable accounts of the Persian weaving industry for the latter half of the seventeenth century. Tadeusz Mankowski (History of Persian art, Vol. Ill, p. 2431), cites the Polish Jesuit Krusinski, who lived in Persia from 1704 to 1729, for Shah Abbas's creative interest in the industry. According to the Shah's orders, each place was to weave in its own manner.
