The reign of Akbar, 1556-1605:

Akbar is credited with founding court workshops and ateliers for Indian craftsmen to learn to weave carpets. Technical flaws found in some of the carpets of this era are consistent with the establishment of a new workshop. Rugs from Akbar’s reign used cotton warp and wool pile exclusively and have a color scheme featuring multiple shades of blues, greens, and other colors on a red ground.

The reign of Jahangir, 1605-27:

The carpets of Jahangir’s reign show a higher state of finish and refinement. The use of luxury materials like silk and pashmina allowed for a greater density of knots. Jahangir’s emphasis on miniature painting may have influenced the weavers, who achieved painterly effects, subtle gradations, and shadings with yarns in an almost pointillistic manner.

The reign of Shah Jahan, 1628-58:

Carpets of extraordinarily fine weave date from this era. Warps and wefts of fine silk yarns allowed as many as 2,000 knots per square inch, and the use of pashmina for the pile gave the carpets a velvetlike texture. Sophisticated shading techniques, using yarns closely related in color, continued in the rugs of this period.

Provincial carpet-weaving centers produced carpets of different grades, sometimes from the same cartoon. Carpets of “imperial” grade used luxury materials and had a greater density of knots. Standard-grade rugs used cotton and sheep’s wool and had fewer knots per square inch. Carpets in between these two grades were also produced.

The reign of Aurangzeb, 1658-1707:

It is not known if court workshops were still in existence during Aurangzeb’s austere reign. However, provincial workshops continued to produce fine carpets, utilizing pashmina in the north of India and silk in the south. As the eighteenth century progressed, the standards of technique and construction began to decline.

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