This weaving is part of a group that uses the most popular motif of the emperor Shah Jahan’s reign: the single flowering plant, in this case a poppy, set within a niche. The similarity of their design to tent panels with niches and to hangings shown in royal audience scenes suggests that they were hung vertically rather than being placed on the floor.
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Dimensions:Textile: L. 61 in. (154.9 cm) W. 40 1/2 in. (102.8 cm) Mount: H. 66 5/8 in. (169.2 cm) W. 45 in. (114.3 cm) D. 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm) Wt. 107 lbs. (48.5 kg)
Classification:Textiles-Rugs
Credit Line:Bequest of Joseph V. McMullan, 1973
Accession Number:1974.149.2
Carpet
The field of this extraordinary rug is dominated by a single large flower, probably a chrysanthemum, filling almost the entire field from the bottom to the arched top. A highly realistic effect is achieved by rendering both leaves and flowers in almost full-face position giving the weaver the possibility to represent them in great detail. Below, on either side of the main flower, appear smaller flowers, probably tulips. Interlacing leaf stems provide the transition from the field to the spandrels of the arch above. These spandrels are filled with a chrysanthemum scroll on a fairly large scale, but in colours contrasting to those of the chrysanthemum in the field. In addition, two of the blossoms on either side are drawn in profile view. The border design is based on a meandering floral scroll. But the floral rosettes of this scroll are conventionalized and can no longer be identified botanically, with the exception perhaps of the four poppies in the corners and four more in the centres of the longitudinal as well as the lateral borders.
[Arts Council 1972]
Prayer Rug
This is one of two complete Mughal prayer rugs that are decorated with a single flowering plant placed on a tiny mound of earth. In each, the plant, with a single or multiple stems and flowers, is placed under a niche. On each side of the stalk in this example, individual blossoms and flowering plants seem to sprout near the edges of a stream. Here the arch, made of formalized leaf scrolls similar to the trellis patterns found on some larger Mughal carpets, is more botanic than architectonic, as the niche lacks the two supporting columns that are usually found along the sides of the fields of prayer carpets. The unidentified plant, possibly a chrysanthemum, in the field of this rug, has five stylized blossoms rendered frontally, growing from a stem with naturalistically rendered leaves in various shades of green. The top of the plant almost reaches the apex of the arch as it is pushed heavenward. A pair of identical floral sprays decorate the field as well. The symmetry of plant and spandrels of the arch is broken only by a single leaf, which curls back over the stem near the top of the plant. This same feaure is seen on the other complete surviving Mughal prayer rug and on the inlaid marble screen surrounding the tombs of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal in the Taj Mahal. Three varieties of floral scrolls decorate the spandrels, the main border, and the guard bands. A blossom marks the middle of each side of the main border. The scroll flows from it in opposite directions towards the blossom marking each corner.
Carolyn Kane in [Berlin 1981]
Charles Tyson Yerkes (American), New York; Elbert H. Gary, New York (until d. 1927)December 7–8, 1934, no. 403, to Dikran Kelekian); sale, American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, Inc. (American), New York, December 7–8, 1934, no. 403 (to Kelekian); [ Dikran G. Kelekian (American, born Turkey), New York, from 1934]; Joseph V. McMullan, New York (by 1965–d. 1973; bequeathed to MMA)
Los Angeles. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Romance of the Taj Mahal," December 17, 1989–March 11, 1990, no. 200.
Toledo, OH. Toledo Museum of Art. "Romance of the Taj Mahal," April 28, 1990–June 24, 1990, no. 200.
Richmond. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Romance of the Taj Mahal," August 23, 1990–November 25, 1990, no. 200.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Flowers Underfoot: Indian Carpets of the Mughal Era," November 20, 1997–March 1, 1998, no. 20.
New York. Asia Society. "The Arts of Kashmir," October 1, 2007–January 6, 2008, fig. 215.
"Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Hayward Gallery, London, 19 October–10 December 1972." In Islamic Carpets from the Joseph V. McMullan Collection. London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1972. no. 7, p. 35, ill. pl. VI (color).
McMullan, Joseph V., and Ernst J. Grube. Islamic Carpets. New York: Near Eastern Art Research Center, 1965. no. 7, pp. 42–43, ill. (color).
Dimand, Maurice S., and Jean Mailey. Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1973. pp. 123, 125, ill. fig. 139 (b/w).
Swietochowski, Marie, and Marilyn Jenkins-Madina. Notable Acquisitions 1965–1975 (1975). p.138, ill. (b/w).
"Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York." In The Arts of Islam. Berlin, 1981. no. 144, pp. 332–33, ill. p. 333 (b/w).
Gans-Ruedin, Erwin. Indian Carpets. London: Thames and Hudson Inc., pp. 78–79.
Pal, Pratapaditya. Romance of the Taj Mahal. London; Los Angeles: Thames and Hudson, 1989–1991. no. 200, pp. 186, 189, ill. (color).
Walker, Daniel S. Flowers Underfoot : Indian Carpets of the Mughal Era. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. no. 20, pp. 88–92, 169, ill. fig. 89 (color).
Pal, Pratapaditya. The Arts of Kashmir. New York: Asia Society, 2007. p. 196, ill. fig. 215 (color).
Denny, Walter B. How to Read Islamic Carpets. New Haven and London: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014. p. 87, ill. fig. 74 (color).
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