Rugs created for utilitarian purposes tend to wear out. This is a facet of carpets that is easy to understand today. Most homes contain either wall-to-wall carpeting or an assortment of area rugs that periodically need to be replaced. Few historical rugs that sustained heavy use have survived to be displayed in museums.
Rugs also were used decoratively, and the very finest can be considered works of art. They were prized for their beauty and design, exchanged as gifts, and treasured throughout the centuries. Most of the carpets that have survived in museums belong to this category. Such carpets were made of fine materials, they were not used as often, they were repaired and stored carefully, and steps were taken to preserve them.
Religious
Prayer rugs came to India with the Muslim invaders and reflected their Islamic heritage. The design on prayer rugs is that of a mihrab, the niche placed into the wall of the Islamic mosque to indicate the direction of Mecca. Prayer rugs provided a portable ground cover that could be oriented toward Mecca at appointed times for prayer. Because the worshipers would kneel and prostrate themselves on the rug, a well-used prayer rug would show signs of friction from use. In a tapestry rug, the weft threads might become thin, revealing the warp threads, and in a pile rug, the pile would be worn down. In this way, a prayer rug could be identified from its wear patterns as well as its design.
Prayer rugs used in mosques were sometimes woven in long strips, providing a series of niches for many worshipers. The niche design was reproduced in the tile or marble floor pattern of the courtyard, as an extension of the patterns found on the prayer rugs inside the prayer hall.
Architectural
Niche patterns also appeared in carpets woven for decorative or architectural use, where they might serve as hanging screens in windows and doorways. Palaces would have been literally covered in textiles--carpets on the floor, pillows for seating, cotton, velvet, or tapestry hanging screens in windows and doorways--their rich colors and textures enlivening the residences of both Mughal and Raj royalty.
Sometimes carpets provided the actual architecture; for example, when they were used in the construction of portable tent compounds for military campaigns or royal visits. The layout of the Mughal palace was re-created in these tent compounds. Rows of qanats, free-standing textile screens, replaced red sandstone walls, and flower-covered carpets reproduced the gardens of the inner courtyards. The red color served to identify the emperor’s tent, and luxurious textiles not only provided the comforts of home but also symbolically reminded envoys and visitors of the power and the wealth of their rulers.
Manuscript illustrations from both Mughal and Rajput India show that carpets played an important part in processions and other royal functions. Large “audience” carpets were placed in front of the royal throne for emissaries and petitioners to stand on when addressing the throne.
Jahangir, Mughal emperor from 1605 to 1627, once paid a visit to his brother-in-law on New Year’s Day. To celebrate the event, his brother-in-law carpeted the road between his house and the palace with gold brocades and rich velvets, so that the royal entourage would not have to touch the ground. Today we say “Roll out the red carpet” or “the red-carpet treatment” to indicate the conferring of honor and prestige.
Aesthetic
It is sometimes difficult to consider textiles as works of art equal to paintings or sculpture. There are several reasons for this. One is that despite the huge output of textiles that has occurred over the centuries, very few survive. Textiles suffer from moths and other insects that eat fibers. Hot and humid climates encourage the growth of mold and mildew. The chemicals used in finishing or dyeing processes sometimes attack the fibers over time. Textiles have been cut and resewn, stretched over frames, or picked apart for their silver and gold threads. Because of their fragility and such treatment, few textiles survive intact for centuries. This may lead to the assumption that textiles were not an important means of artistic expression.
Second, because modern textiles are so quickly and easily produced, we tend to take them for granted. For centuries prior to the Industrial Revolution, fine fabrics and rugs were woven entirely by hand. From the cultivation and preparation of fibers, to the drawing of a design or cartoon for the weavers to follow, to the setting up of a loom, to the interlacing of one thread with another, each step was labor and time-intensive, sometimes taking months or years.
Finally, we are used to thinking of art as being produced by an individual of genius. The production of an art textile was a collaborative effort, dependent upon a number of artists and artisans, many of whom have remained anonymous. Sometimes an artist is named as the designer of the cartoon for a tapestry or rug, but this participation was only a step in the process.
The importance of carpets to the Mughal emperors is illustrated by their desire at an early date to import Persian carpets to India, then to introduce this style of weaving to the native Indian craftsmen. The carpets woven in India were closely related to the art of manuscript painting, and there is no evidence to suggest that the emperors made any distinction between the two arts, such as we make today between “fine” and “decorative” arts.
Mercantile
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Portuguese, Dutch, and English explorers founded outposts along the coastline of India from which to trade for spices. Later, the British and Dutch East India companies were formed, and officers and representatives of these concerns set up residence in India. They became familiar with India’s art and culture, often purchasing or commissioning carpets for their own use commercial and private enterprises exported carpets to Europe. Provincial weaving centers in Lahore and elsewhere catered to these new customers.
Oriental carpets are depicted in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish paintings, providing clues to their usage in the West. From these paintings it is obvious that Oriental carpets were highly valued; for example, they were shown placed in front of altars in cathedrals, a position of prestige. In other paintings, the carpets are draped over tabletops. A painting by Johannes Vermeer in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Young Woman with a Water Jug, depicts a rug with a Persian design. Because Persian designs were popular with Europeans and were sometimes copied in India for export, it is impossible to tell the origin of the carpet that Vermeer painted.
Mughal carpets were acquired by Japanese royalty and guilds through their contacts with European traders. Some of these carpets were brought out for ceremonial use once a year, as part of a festival parade. Because of their careful storage and the fact that they are displayed only once a year, the carpets are in excellent condition.