The Garden

Although a love of nature permeates Hindu art, the theme of the garden in carpet designs came from sixteenth-century Persia. Persia is a dry, arid country where water is precious, and a garden of flowers with a fountain or pool is a luxury. Persian poets and painters used gardens as subject matter, and Paradise itself was considered to be a magnificent garden. (“Pairidaeza,” the Persian word for walled garden, traveled through Greek and Latin to become the English word “Paradise.”) Persian carpets sometimes reproduce the pathways and grid of a formal garden. Images of flowers and plants also adorn prayer rugs, whose niche design might be seen as a symbol for the gateway into Paradise.

The Mughal emperors were intensely interested in nature, and their affinity for flowers is evident in their carpets. The flowers are woven with such attention to detail that specific species can be identified--roses, lilies, iris, bellflowers, violets, carnations, and peonies.

Fantastic and complex blossoms show the influence of Hindu and Indian traditions.

Yarns were often used in a painterly fashion to shade the petals and leaves and to give them a three-dimensional quality.

Flowers also could be stylized, made up of tiny, rigidly organized shapes.

Animals in combat

In many cultures around the world, rulers have identified themselves with powerful beasts, real animals like lions or elephants, or imaginary animals like dragons and phoenixes. Sometimes the desirable attributes of individual beasts could be incorporated into one composite animal, symbolically representing the power, strength, and wisdom of the ruler. Scenes of men hunting animals or animals hunting each other also were symbolic of royal power.

The Mughal emperors enjoyed collecting exotic animals, hunting, and watching animals fight each other.

Animals were a popular subject of manuscript illustrators, and the Mughal artists depicted animals in a more naturalistic manner. In the landscape carpet, the animals seem to move about more freely. Recognizable species native to South Asia--ibexes, tigers, and cranes--appear alongside exotic or mythological beasts.

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