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Carpet with Scrolling Vines and Blossoms

ca. 1650
Not on view
The finest Indian carpets were made with a pile of pashmina wool and a foundation of silk, which allowed for hundreds of knots to be tied per square inch. Increasing the suppleness and softness of the carpet, the greater number of knots also increased the subtlety of the patterns that could be made on the carpet; here, a scrolling vine from which bloom palmettes, poppies, irises and serrated lancet leaves. Pashmina wool, the undercoat of the Himalayan mountain goat, was obtained from Kashmir (in northern India) and from western Tibet, from which imports were strictly regulated.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Carpet with Scrolling Vines and Blossoms
  • Date: ca. 1650
  • Geography: Made in Northern India or Pakistan, Kashmir or Lahore
  • Medium: Silk (warp and weft), pashmina wool (pile); asymmetrically knotted pile
  • Dimensions: L. 163 3/4 in. (415.9 cm)
    W. 66 in. (167.6 cm)
    Diam. of tube 10 in. (25.4 cm)
    Wt. with tube: 60 lbs. (27.2 kg)
  • Classification: Textiles-Rugs
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913
  • Object Number: 14.40.725
  • Curatorial Department: Islamic Art

More Artwork

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Carpet with Niche and Flower Design, Cotton (warp and weft), silk (weft), wool (pile); asymmetrically knotted pile
Carpet with Niche and Flower Design
mid-17th century
Fragment of a Carpet with Niche and Flower Design, Silk (warp and weft), pashmina wool (pile); asymmetrically knotted pile
Fragment of a Carpet with Niche and Flower Design
1630–40
Fragments of a Carpet, Silk (warp and weft), wool (pile); asymmetrically knotted pile
Fragments of a Carpet
mid-17th century
Carpet Fragment, Silk (warp and weft), pashmina wool (pile); asymmetrically knotted pile
Carpet Fragment
ca. 1650
Fragments of a Trellis Pattern Carpet, Silk (warp and weft), pashmina wool (pile); asymmetrically knotted pile
Fragments of a Trellis Pattern Carpet
ca. 1650

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