The town of Alcaraz had long been a famous Moorish rug-making center in Murcia and rose to prominence as a weaving center in the 15th century.

Wendy and Emery Reves's interest in textiles was wide ranging and one of their most distinguished accomplishments, in terms of their textile collection, was in the area of rugs. In total, the Reveses assembled a fine group of approximately thirty rugs during the 1960s and 1970s.

During the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the Portuguese acquired trading outposts around the world.  In 1482, they built a fort on the Guinea coast of Africa to protect their exportation of slaves, ivory, and gold.

The Victorian reaction to the austere forms, limited palette, and small designs of the neoclassic taste of the late 18th and early 19th centuries was a profusion of large-scale polychrome forms. These large beautifully shaded cabbage roses, leaves, and branches are dramatically set against a black background.

Wendy and Emery Reves's interest in textiles was wide ranging and one of their most distinguished accomplishments, in terms of their textile collection, was in the area of rugs. In total, the Reveses assembled a fine group of approximately thirty rugs during the 1960s and 1970s.

Similar to another rug in the Reves Collection (1985.R.87), the pattern of this rug was derived from contemporary silk fabrics, but the pomegranate and vine motif is much more stylized.

For many years, rugs of this type were believed to be of Persian origin; however, scholars now generally agree that this example is part of a group that derived from Persian prototypes but was made in India.

Wendy and Emery Reves's interest in textiles was wide ranging and one of their most distinguished accomplishments, in terms of their textile collection, was in the area of rugs. In total, the Reveses assembled a fine group of approximately thirty rugs during the 1960s and 1970s.