A Converso conversation piece

Anton Felton discovers the symbolism behind an ornate 15th-century carpet

By GLORIA DEUTSCH
A Converso conversation piece (photo credit: Courtesy Anton Felton)
A Converso conversation piece
(photo credit: Courtesy Anton Felton)
One carpet, so much significance.
Anton Felton, in his latest book Jewish Symbols and Secrets: A Fifteenth Century Spanish Carpet, has taken as his starting point the Vizcaya carpet – so called because it is today part of the collection of the Vizcaya Museum in Miami – and written a fascinating book that covers the history of the Jews of Spain, the Inquisition, the situation of the Conversos – the Jews who were forcibly converted to Christianity but continued to secretly practice Judaism – and so much more.
He traces the role of carpets in Jewish culture and the history of the Jewish weavers of Spain and North Africa and analyses the symbols on the Vizcaya carpet itself – the Star of David, the menorahs and hamsas, the birds, the sheep and even what purport to be Torah arks – and comes to the inevitable conclusion that the Vizcaya carpet was designed for crypto- Jews and made by them.
“Judaism has a particular passion for hidden meanings,” he writes. So, when the Inquisition and its masters would see only a decorative carpet with symbols that could be interpreted as Christian or Muslim, the crypto-Jews, especially the Enriquez family, which commissioned the carpet, saw it as an expression of their deep inner and hidden faith.
One cannot but marvel at their courage for having created this magnificent artifact when discovery of the truth would have meant a horrible death. Yet they proclaimed their faith to those who would understand.
The Vizcaya carpet is one of a group of a dozen or so brilliant carpets woven in 15th-century Spain and known as the Admiral or Armorial carpets because they display the coat-of-arms of the noble Enriquez family.
Felton set himself the task of discovering whether the Enriquezes, who were known to be conversos, were still crypto- Jews at the time the carpet was woven. The research took years and required him to traverse three continents. But he established to his satisfaction that the Vizcaya carpet was a convincing expression of a retained Jewish faith.
Felton devotes an entire chapter to the symbolism of the Star of David, in modern times indisputably a Jewish symbol, but in the 15th century less so.
As he puts it in his delightfully whimsical style, “When you look upon a star, it makes a difference who you are.”
Part historical, part detective novel, this book offers much to fans of both genres. For the historians, the copious notes provide a scholarly bonus to the narrative. For the detective buffs, it’s just a thumping good mystery.