began ordering carpets directly from the manufactures of Isfahan and Kashan, whose weavers were willing to weave specific designs, like European coats of arms, into the commissioned peces. Their acquisition was sometimes meticulously documented: In 1601, the Armenian Sefer Muratowicz was sent to Kashan by the Polish king Sigismund III Vasa in order to commission 8 carpets with the Polish royal court of arms to be inwoven. The Kashan weavers did so, and on 12 September 1602 Muratowicz presented the carpets to the Polish king, and the bill to the treasurer of the crown. Representative Safavid carpets made of silk with inwoven gold and silver threads were erroneously believed by Western art historians to be of Polish manufacture. Although the error was corrected, carpets of this type retained the name of "Polish" or "Polonaise" carpets. The more appropriate type name of "Shah Abbas" carpets was suggested by Kurt Erdmann. Masterpieces of Safavid carpet weaving A. C. Edwards opens his book on Persian carpets with the description of eight masterpieces from this great period: Ardabil Carpet – Victoria and Albert Museum Hunting Carpet – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna Chelsea Carpet – Victoria and Albert Museum Allover Animal and Floral Carpet – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna Rose-ground Vase Carpet – Victoria and Albert Museum Medaillion Animal and Floral Carpet with Inscription Guard – Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan Inscribed Medaillon Carpet with Animal and Flowers and Inscription Border – Metropolitan Museum of Art, Accession Number: 32.16 Medaillon, Animal, and Tree Carpet – Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris Safavid "Vase technique" carpets from Kirmān A distinct group of Safavid carpets can be attributed to the region of Kirmān in southern Persia. May H. Beattie identified these carpets by their common structure: Seven different types of carpets were identified: Garden carpets (depicting formal gardens and water channels); carpets with centralized designs, characterized by a large medallion; multiple-medaillon designs with offset medaillons and compartment repeats; directional designs with the arrangements of little scenes used as individual motifs; sickle-leaf designs where long, curved, serrated and sometimes compound leaves dominate the field; arabesque; and lattice designs. Their distinctive structure consists of asymmetric knots; the cotton warps are depressed, and there are three wefts. Woolen wefts lie hidden in the center of the carpet, making up the first and third weft. Silk or cotton makes up the middle weft, which crosses from back to front.