Said to be the oldest dated carpet in the world, it can be found in the Victoria & Albert Museum.

The Ardabil Carpet was made in the town of Ardabil in what is now north-west Iran, in 1539-40. The dating can be so exact thanks to a poetic inscription along one edge which, as well as referencing a date in the Muslim calendar, also reveals it to be the work of a court craftsman, Maqsud Kashani.

The carpet, which is one of an identical pair (the other is at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)), is believed to have been commissioned by the court of the Safavid Dynasty (1501-1722) – the ruler at the time was Shah Tahmasp I – for a renovation of the shrine of Shaykh Safi al-Din Ardabili.

The entire carpet, which may have been made in Tabriz and is said to be the finest carpet that could have been created at the time, is covered by a single integrated design with a large yellow medallion at the centre which is surrounded by a series of oval shapes with a lamp hanging at each end.

The wool pile is very dense with about 5,300 knots per ten centimetres square allowing a great deal of detail. According to the V&A, up to 10 weavers may have been working on it at the same time.

The carpet was seen by British visitors at the Shrine of Shaykh Safi al-Din in 1843 but following an earthquake about 30 years later, it was sold to a Manchester carpet firm. They sold it to the V&A for £2,000 in March, 1893, following a recommendation from William Morris that they do so.

It now sits under a special case at the centre of the Jameel Gallery and is only lit for 10 minutes every half hour to help preserve its colours.

WHERE: The Jameel Gallery at the V&A South Kensington, Cromwell Road (nearest Tube station is South Kensington); WHEN: 10am to 5:45pm daily (late opening Friday – but check website for possible gallery closures); COST: Free; WEBSITE: www.vam.ac.uk/