Mughal Carpet

second half of 17th Century

Gallery 24 Islamic Art

The art of the knotted wool carpet is not indigenous to India, whose hot and humid climate discourages the use of any but the lightest cotton floor-coverings. Carpet-weaving, which had developed among the nomadic peoples of Central Asia and Iran, was introduced to India by the early Mughals, who swept down through the Khyber Pass in 1526 and established an empire that lasted until the removal of the last emperor by the British in 1858.

Akbar (1556-1605), the greatest of the Mughals, consolidated the empire and laid the foundation for the magnificent achievements of Mughal painting and decorative arts. He brought skilled carpet-weavers from centres such as Herat in modern Afghanistan. His minister Abu’l Fazl wrote in his chronicle, the ‘Ain-I Akbari, that the emperor “…has caused carpets to be made of wonderful varieties and charming textures; he has appointed experienced workmen, who have produced so many masterpieces. The carpets of Iran and Turan [Turkestan] are no longer thought of…”

His successor Jahangir (1605-27) was a gifted connoisseur of the arts and an inquisitive amateur naturalist, with a special passion for the abundant wild flowers which he saw on his visits to Kashmir. During his reign the Mughal style in painting and other arts became more strongly defined, with flower and plant motifs playing a leading role in its decorative repertoire, not least in carpet and textile design. This floral tendency increased still further under his son Shah Jahan (1627-58), builder of the Taj Mahal. While carpets continued to be woven according to traditional Persian schemes with repeating symmetrical patterns, a stronger naturalism in the treatment of plants, animals or human figures also became apparent.

Under the pious and bellicose Aurangzeb (1658-1707), imperial patronage of the arts went into a decline. But carpets of excellent quality continued to be woven, especially the millefleur (‘thousand-flower’) rugs, in many cases designed for Muslim prayer. These were woven in Kashmir and possibly also Lahore in the second half of the seventeenth century and later. Millefleur carpets are so called because their exclusively floral patterns incorporate a profusion of tiny blossom clusters. This style developed from Eastern decorative influence (including the use of serrated leaf forms) on Mughal floral design, combined with a tendency to reduce the scale of ornamental elements.