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Mughals or Safavids in the Pergamon?

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I’ve been visiting the Pergamon in Berlin. And this week I wanted to show you a few of their outstanding carpets. The Pergamon has got lots less on display than the Met. It’s less Iran-centred too. Though I did think it was going a bit far when a case of Safavid ceramics is labelled for …

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The French give much better presents

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The French and English commercial envoys both had an audience with the Shah [Safi II] on the 21st of September 1671. They were taken at 8 am from their lodgings by their relative conducteurs, and made to dismount 150 paces from the Royal Palace, before being led in. The Frenchman had his “second”, his surgeon …

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