VENICE – For centuries, it has been catalogued as Persian, Turkish, or, more recently, European. Now, a new study led by a researcher at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice reveals that the large needlework carpet currently held in storage at the Pitti Palace is, in fact, a 17th-century Chinese production. The investigation, based on close examination, diagnostic analyses, and archival research, also calls into question the origins of other comparable pieces preserved at the Topkapı Palace Museum, Istanbul and the Louvre Museum, Paris. The scientific article, authored by Ilenia Pittui, has been published in Kervan – International Journal of Afro-Asiatic Studies, directed by Mauro Tosco (University of Turin).

Central to this story is a large table carpet which is made up of four pieces of red plain cut velvet, measuring more than four metres in length and two metres in width. The velvet is embroidered in gold and polychrome silk, outlining the phytomorphic iconography. Dated back to the 17th century, the artwork was long considered a valuable “Oriental carpet” of Persian and/or Turkish origin, until more recent research suggested a possible European provenance. This study, instead, demonstrates that the carpet is a “Macao embroidery” which emulates, in its decorative motif, some 17th-century carpets from Iran. By tracing a dense network of exchanges between Asia and the Mediterranean, the research circumscribes its entering the Florentine collections to the first half of the 18th century.

The investigation began in March 2023 in the Florentine studio of architect, antiques dealer, and well-known carpet expert Alberto Boralevi, where the Pitti carpet was mentioned to the researcher as a discussed piece worthy of attention. Following a preliminary assessment, the project took shape despite logistical and financial difficulties to face. “From the outset, it was clear that we were dealing with an extraordinary artwork, which deserved to be studied, enhanced, and returned to public use,” explains Ilenia Pittui. “The challenge was to understand its origin and continue reconstructing its history, including its collecting history.”

A crucial step occurred with the first study visit on 13th May 2024, when Pittui interacted with a team of specialists including Alberto Boralevi, Giovanni Curatola, Marina Carmignani, and the textile conservators Carla Molin Pradel and Jasmine Sartor. Then, on the basis of archival evidence, permission was sought and obtained from the Uffizi Galleries to remove the lining which had been applied in 1977 during a restoration work carried out by Alfredo Clignon and Marietta Vermigli. This removal revealed a series of golden characters painted in close proximity to the selvedges of the carpet, which are still under investigation. The writing system of the legible characters is thought to be Chinese.

“The study also reaffirms the significant role played by Alfredo Clignon within the history of textile conservation, highlighting the need for and importance of close collaboration between art historians and conservators,” Pittui continues. “Had Clignon not observed and recorded, in his extremely detailed report, these characters ‘in an Oriental language’, ‘in Chinese’, painted on the ‘selvedge of the velvet’, this information might have been lost maybe forever. Therefore, it seems to me crucial to emphasise the value of conservation reports as documents that preserve and transmit historical memory.”

The methodology used also included diagnostic analysis of materials, conducted by Silvia Bruni and Margherita Longoni of the Department of Chemistry, University of Milan. The study of textile fibres, dyes, and paper gold confirmed consistency with production techniques of the Chinese area, supporting the hypothesis that the piece might be a “Macao embroidery”. The handling of the carpet and all logistical operations were entrusted to Opera Laboratori Fiorentini, under the coordination of the responsible art historian functionary Alessandra Griffo, with support from registrar Cinzia Nenci and the entire staff of the Pitti Palace, on the authorisation of the Director Simone Verde.

The research will extend beyond the Pitti Palace due to the existence of two comparable pieces, which deserve to be studied and reported on alongside this carpet. First, an analogous needlework carpet of roughly the same size, thought to be Ottoman, currently preserved at the Topkapı Palace Museum, in Istanbul. Secondly, a further carpet, considered to be Indian or Persian, from the Musée des Arts Décoratifs’ collections, now at the Louvre Museum, in Paris. Placing these three works in relation is the next step in determining whether they share the same original place of production, whether they might be the product of a common workshop, and whether their clientele and uses can be better understood and investigated.

“Now, the aim is to think and plan an international action to enhance works of art in storage and to reunite these three carpets in a single exhibition, displaying them one beside the other in order to make these comparisons effective,” Pittui says.

The article published in Kervan strengthens the evidence and opens the discussion within the international scientific community, also in preparation for the upcoming International Conference on Oriental Carpets (ICOC), a major global event in the field, to be held in Italy in 2027.

The story of the Pitti carpet is also the story of a young researcher working across archives, museum storerooms, and scientific laboratories. Ilenia Pittui is an art historian and researcher in the Department of Asian and North African Studies at Ca’ Foscari University. In 2024, she was awarded the European Commission’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Seal of Excellence and won the Italian Ministry of University and Research’s “Young Researchers 2024” call, with a project supervised by Simone Cristoforetti, Professor of History of Islamic Countries. In 2025, Pittui was granted the Laura Bassi Scholarship as a junior academic. In 2026, she also secured a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Postdoctoral Fellowship: one of the nineteen fellows who chose Ca’ Foscari as their host institution. These honours attest to the quality of research that, by integrating diverse cultural institutions and interdisciplinary expertise, can rewrite the biography of artworks within a global perspective.