Pile prayer rug, pashmina wool and cotton
India; 1st half of 18th century
H: 166.5; W: 120 cm
This rug belongs to the group of millefleurs carpets that are characterized by finely patterned floral decoration, frequently arranged in groups of three, four, or seven flowers. The flowers on this rug grow from a vase in front of the light-colored niche that in typical Indian fashion is topped by a lobed arch. The space around the arch is like the borders also filled with fine floral ornamentation.
Millefleurs carpets were made from exquisite pashmina wool, the fine winter inner coat of hair from the wild goats that live in mountainous Kashmir. This especially fine wool made it possible to produce rugs with an unusually high density of knots, which combined with the shiny wool made these rugs resemble woven silk velvets.
Inv. no. Tex 31
Published in:
F. Sarre: Altorientalische Teppiche : im Anschluss an das in d. Jahren 1892 bis 1896 vom K. K. Handelsmuseum in Wien veröffentlichte Werk: Orientalische Teppiche, Leipzig 1908, pl. 1;
Arthur Upham Pope og Phyllis Ackerman (red.): A survey of Persian art: from prehistoric times to the present, London 1938-39, pl. 1274;
C .L. Davids Samling. Fjerde Del : Jubilæumsskrift 1945-70, København 1970, no. 5, pp. 248 and 253;
Kjeld von Folsach: Islamic art. The David Collection, Copenhagen 1990, cat.no. 419;
Kjeld von Folsach, Torben Lundbæk and Peder Mortensen (eds.): Sultan, Shah and Great Mughal: the history and culture of the Islamic world, The National Museum, Copenhagen 1996, cat.no. 6;
Kjeld von Folsach: Art from the World of Islam in The David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, cat.no. 693;
Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom (eds.): Cosmophilia. Islamic Art from the David Collection, Copenhagen, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston 2006, cat.no. 83;
