Persian New Year Tablecloth (Sufra)

Author: Boglárka Mácsai
Photos: Marcell Szász

ای این بساط سفره جود تو برقرار 

وی شرمسار خوان عطای تو روزگار 

اندر كنار خوان تو خورشید قرص نان 

وندر بساط بذل تو جمشید ریزه‌خوار 

ادیم زمین سفره عام اوست بر این خوان یغما، چه دشمن چه دوست 

Oh! Has this rug been set by Your great abundance; 

And fallen prostrate before Your eternally laid table in shame: 

For the bread at Your table is the sun, 

And King Jamshid but a starveling on the carpet of your abundance, 

Whose banquet table is the carpet of the Earth, 

And from whose feast, friend and foe alike may partake. 

The ‘carpet of plenty’ represents, in and of itself, no less than the universe itself, the flora and fauna of all the Earth. The Persian qalamkari—spread on the ground and richly set—is the banquet table of God, whose abundance put even the wealth of Jamshid, that is, the Persian King Darius I (522– 486 B.C.E.), to shame. The prayer printed on the cloth renders beggar and king equal before God and presents the blessing of food (nazri) as a selfless act of charity, a virtue. To sit together and share a meal around it is a religious act, one that praises the eternally set table of God. 

As to how many times the cloth shown here has fulfilled this role, none can say. Of its story, little is known beyond what is true of this type of object in general and what is revealed by the Persian-language text and motifs that decorate it. The qalamkari, or printed banquet cloth, was not considered a one-off piece in Qajar-era Persia (1796–1925): with the spread of factory cotton textiles and traditional print blocks, serial production of such articles was an easy matter. The word ‘rug’ appearing in the inscription is, therefore, no accident, despite being a misnomer: the serially produced qalamkari was a cheap substitute for the more expensive Persian rug and as such, was most often used for that purpose. Its patterns, too, evoked the motifs of Persian rugs, with the general addition of a cartouche (frame) that included both signature and date. 

In the case of the cloth seen here, the text readable in the margin identifies its maker as Haj Muhammad Husayn Baba Rabiʿ and its time of production as 1275 according to the Islamic calendar (corresponding to 1858–1859 C.E.). Its polychromatic motifs symbolise Earth’s lush flora. The central panel features a trio of mandorlas surrounded by a flower garden and, in each corner, a quarter-mandorla design. Around this, three of the borders are decorated with blue, wine-coloured, and mustard yellow flowers, paired with mir-i buta (paisley) motifs. Two others feature a repetitive devotional text in nasta‘liq calligraphy, ensuring that diners can read the prayer—thus making it an integral part of the table setting. Given its size (714 cm x 285 cm), the piece may be regarded as unique: though smaller cloths were sometimes manufactured serially, the placement of elements and distribution of colours in larger specimens meant that no two cloths were the same. The first four lines of the prayer, too, are unique to this cloth, while the final two have been taken from the poem Garden of Fragrance (The Bustan) by Saʿdi Shirazi (ca. 1210 – ca. 1292). These textual and ornamental elements did not, however, limit the use of the cloth to any specific occasion: it may have seen service on various holidays (weddings, New Year’s celebrations) or during a meal to express gratitude. 

Though the circumstances of the purchase are known—the Academy of Oriental Commerce paid one hundred crowns for it in 1911—the precise identity of the seller is not. It was first deposited with the institution’s collection of sample merchandise, though presumably not in order to represent the contemporary market, as by that time, the more than fifty-year-old cloth was already rather worn. The piece displays a 150 cm x 160 cm patch of discolouration, likely caused by having resided under or behind a large piece of furniture, meaning that it was probably not used as a dining cloth, let alone a ritual object. Contemporary photographs show it exhibited in the Academy museum, opened in 1913, in roughly its current condition: interestingly, there, it was spread not on the ground, as originally intended, but over the ceiling, a decision to which the tiny nails and associated tears on its borders and seams attest. 

When the Academy eventually ceased operation, the collection was placed with the Ethnographic Department of the Hungarian National Museum—today’s Museum of Ethnography—in 1926. As regards the collection’s Persian artefacts, however, systematic research began only in 2024. It is, therefore, with our very latest findings that we celebrate nouruz, the Persian New Year, traditionally held on the day of the spring equinox, and trust that future findings will be as abundant as the ‘carpet of the Earth’ itself. 

The benediction readable on the cloth has been translated by Iván Szántó, for whose expertise we express our gratitude. 

NM. 2006.12.15 

Perzsia 

1858-1859