All works › The Art Institute of Chicago

Carpet

Unknown artist, Early 17th century

4.59 m × 9.91 m

Longer than a car. Stood on end it is 5.8 people tall.

Against things you know the size of

Height: 9.91 m
Width: 4.59 m
Medium: Cotton and wool, plain weave with supplementary wrapping wefts forming cut pile through a technique known as "Sehna knots"
Kind: Textile
Made in: Persia
Where the measurement comes from: Measured by the museum. The dimension is the one recorded by the institution that holds the work.
As the museum records it: 990.6 × 434.3 cm (390 × 171 in.)
Why this differs from the record: Recorded as 4.34 m × 9.91 m. Hung to match the photograph.
Credit: Gift of Joseph V. McMullan

Five questions, answered from its own record. What is AGAI?

How big is it?: 4.59 m × 9.91 m. Longer than a car. Measured by the museum.
When was it made, and when is it everyone’s?: Made Early 17th century. It is in the public domain, and The Art Institute of Chicago publishes it for open use.
Whose is it?: Everyone’s to see. It is held by The Art Institute of Chicago: Gift of Joseph V. McMullan.
How was it made?: Cotton and wool, plain weave with supplementary wrapping wefts forming cut pile through a technique known as "Sehna knots", made in Persia, Arts of the Islamic World.
Who speaks for it?: Its record at The Art Institute of Chicago. Measured by the museum. This gallery adds nothing it cannot cite.

One email. The smallest thing in the collection, the largest, and two that hang well together.

Scored on colour, shape, era and scale, the same way the gallery hangs them.