Pashmina Carpet with Gateway-and-Millefleur Pattern

Prayer Rug

Paradise in Islam is described as a walled garden filled with flowers and cypress trees. Depictions of paradise in Islamic art often include a colorful garden of flowers sheltered by an arched gateway symbolic of the gateway to heaven. This artistic metaphor appears on textiles, architectural tile panels and other objects, but is an especially appropriate decorative motif for prayer rugs. It is a visual reminder of the pleasures of paradise awaiting the faithful who pray. Flowers burst forth from a single vase in the field of this carpet and fill a curved niche defined by flanking cypress trees and floral spandrels. The extremely fine weave of this pashmina wool prayer rug, with approximately seven hundred knots per square inch, gives it a luxurious, velvet-like appearance. This mille-fleurs type of prayer rug was produced in Mughal India and later copied by weavers in southern Persia.

Aimee Froom in [Walker et al. 1994]

M. Bela de Rakovsky ; Vitall and Leopold Benguiat, New York and Paris (until 1926; sale, American Art Association, New York, 1926, no. 73, to French and Co.); [ French and Co., New York, from 1926]; Joseph V. McMullan, New York (by 1965–70; gifted to MMA)

Mexico City. Colegio de San Ildefonso. "Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York," September 30, 1994–January 8, 1995, no. 122.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Flowers Underfoot: Indian Carpets of the Mughal Era," November 20, 1997–March 1, 1998, no. 36.

New York. Asia Society. "The Arts of Kashmir," October 1, 2007–January 6, 2008, fig. 222.

McMullan, Joseph V., and Ernst J. Grube. Islamic Carpets. New York: Near Eastern Art Research Center, 1965. no. 30, pp. 134–35, 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. 88, 91, ill. fig. 124 (b/w).

Denny, Walter B., A. Kevin Reinhart, and Gene R. Garthwaite. Images of Paradise in Islamic Art, edited by Sheila Blair, and Jonathan M. Bloom. Hanover, NH: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 1991. p. 92, no. 27c, ill.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Daniel S. Walker, Arturo Ponce Guadián, Sussan Babaie, Stefano Carboni, Aimee Froom, Marie Lukens Swietochowski, Tomoko Masuya, Annie Christine Daskalakis-Matthews, Abdallah Kahli, and Rochelle Kessler. "Colegio de San Ildefonso, Septiembre de 1994–Enero de 1995." In Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York. Mexico City: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 1994. no. 122, pp. 288–89, ill. (color).

Walker, Daniel S. Flowers Underfoot : Indian Carpets of the Mughal Era. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. no. 36, pp. 132–33, 172, ill. fig. 129 (color).

Pal, Pratapaditya. The Arts of Kashmir. New York: Asia Society, 2007. p. 201, ill. fig. 222 (color).

Denny, Walter B. How to Read Islamic Carpets. New Haven and London: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014. p. 112, ill. fig. 95 (color).