🎭 Culture 1d ago · Jessa Crispin

Piles of Decadence

The American Scholar

American Scholar magazine

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I don’t know how many years it has been since the word sumptuous has come to mind, but my head was absolutely ringing with it as I looked at Louis XIV’s carpet at the Met—actually 92 individual pieces that once made up a single work. I wanted to rub my cheek against the thick pile. I wanted to squish my toes into the creamy wool, and I wondered briefly if the king had ever wanted to do the same. But despite the expense and effort spent in its creation, the king never used the carpet. He had plac