A MUGHAL FRAGMENTARY ANIMAL CARPET BORDER

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A MUGHAL FRAGMENTARY ANIMAL CARPET BORDER
NORTH INDIA, FIRST QUARTER 17TH CENTURY

The deep green field with a variety of leaping and running animals including lion and deer alternating with a variety of floral sprays, the upper rose stripe with alternating birds and floral sprays, the lower wine-red stripe with animals alternating with palmettes, made up from a number of pieces, a few not belonging to this border, even wear, tinted corroded black, edges bound
Approximately 4ft.10in. x 2ft. (147cm. x 61cm.)

Warp: white cotton, Z8-9S, strongly depressed, slightly undulating
Weft: 3 shoots red-brown cotton, Z3S, first and third slightly undulating, second strongly undulating
Pile: wool, Z3-4, the light green, light blue and sometimes the dark blue Z2, asymmetrical open to the left, H3.9 x V3.8/cm.
Remarks: row adjustments

Literature

Alte Teppiche des 16.-18.Jahrhunderts der Firma L.Bernheimer, Munich, 1959, pl.105

Lot Essay

Another fragment from the same border is in the Keir collection (Robinson, B. W. et. al.: Islamic Art in the Keir Collection, London 1988, ill.T32, pp.84). These fragments fit easily into a group described as Mughal animal carpets. There are two well-known complete carpets from the same group with the same combination of naturalistic plants, leaping animals and the symmetry in the field design; The Sackville Mughal Animal and Tree Carpet (Franses, M. and Schaffer, D.: 'An Early Indian Carpet', HALI 28, 1985, pp.33-39), and the Widener Carpet now in the National Gallery, Washington, D.C. (Dilley, A.U. and Dimand, M.S.: Oriental Rugs and Carpets, New York, 1959, pl.XXXV).

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