Lot Essay
Warp: wool, ivory, S5Z
Weft: wool, blue, S2Z, 2 shoots alternating, 75 depression
Pile: wool, probably pashmina, asymmetrical open to the left, Z3-5S, H20xV19
Sides: dark red overbound last two pairs of warps
Ends: mostly finishing on black knotted guard line
Colors: dark blue, mid blue, pale blue, turquiose, pink, dark pink/red, maroon, ivory, yellow, black
During the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries the carpet looms of the Mughal dynasty in India produced many of the most magnificent carpets extant today. These beautiful carpets were originally woven to adorn the palaces fo the Mughal Indian aristocracy, but through Dutch, Portuguese and English trading companies they quickly became highly sought after objects by wealthy Europeans. Certain examples acquired by Westerners in the seventeenth century are still in their original European collections, such as the Sackville Family Mughal carpets at Knole and the Girdlers Carpet (woven with English Coats of Arms) in the Girdlers Company Collection, London.
The carpet offered here is one of twelve known Mughal carpets identified as the Millefleur group. While the major field designs of these carpets differ greatly, they are related by their similartity in material construction and decorative details, primarily in the minor guard borders and secondary design motifs. These elements are so similar that the group can reasonably be attributed to a single workshop. Two other examples from this group can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (see Dimand, M.S. and Mailey, J., Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1973, fig. 141, p. 126 for a carpet formerly in the collection of Benjamin Altman and fig. 142, p. 127 for a carpet from the collection of F.H. Hirschland). Within the historical context of Mughal carpets, the Millefleur group falls between the renowned early seventeenth century floral spray and trellis Mughal carpets and the eighteenth century Mughal carpets also having Millefleur designs. A comparison between the present Millefleur group carpet and the earlier Mughal carpets, shows the present carpet to be slightly more rigid and stylized in overal design. The remarkable crispness of detail and spacious, well executed drawing seen here, however, affirm the present carpet as a noble continuum of Mughal weaving traditions. The later group of Millefleur carpets clearly degenerate from the present carpet's group and become stiffer, more crowded and slightly awkward in their floral decoration. The offered carpet, as with the other members of its group, is executed with an exceptionally fine weave and is knotted with lustrous, extremely soft Pashmina wool.
With the rise of industrial wealth in the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century, many of the new American millionaires began to emulate the collecting tastes of earlier European aristocracy. Along with collecting early furniture and old master paintings, these wealthy Americans avidly acquired magnificent early carpets. During this period, many sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century Safavid Persian, Ottoman Turkish, and Mughal Indian carpets entered the collections of the most prominent Americans such as J.P. Morgan, Henry Clay Frick and Benjamin Altman. Among this esteemed group with a passion for rare, early carpets was Cornelius Vanderbilt II, who acquired the offered carpet for his palatial mansion at 1 West 57th Street in New York City. Vanderbilt fully recognized the importance of this carpet and proudly displayed it on the wall of the Moorish Smoking Room at 1 West 57th Street. The carpet was later transferred to Vanderbilt's country home, "The Breakers", in Newport, Rhode Island, where it was placed in Vanderbilt's master bedroom. After Vanderbilt's death, the carpet remained at "The Breakers" in the possession of his heirs until the settlement of the estate of his youngest daughter, Countess László Széchényi. The carpet was removed from "The Breakers" for sale in 1977. Interestingly, the appreciation of Mughal carpets existed throughout the Vanderbilt family as evidenced by two later Millefleur prayer rugs in the collection of Cornelius' youngest brother, George W. Vanderbilt, at Biltmore, in Asheville, North Carolina.
The fact that the carpet remained in the Vanderbilt family's possession for nearly 100 years may explain the extremely well preserved physical condition of the carpet. This impressive condition, along with the carpet's inherent beauty, ranks it as one of the most remarkable classical carpets existing today. In 1982, when the carpet was displayed at the Boulogne-Billancourt exhibition in Paris, it was described in the exhibition catalogue as "one of the best examples of this group of Millefleurs and one of the only ones to be in such excellent condition. The extraordinary richness of the colors and the beauty of the delicate tracery design, give it the noble character of Mughal weaving and should be considered like a masterpiece" (see Le Tapis d'Orient dans les Collections Français, 1982, p.26).
Weft: wool, blue, S2Z, 2 shoots alternating, 75 depression
Pile: wool, probably pashmina, asymmetrical open to the left, Z3-5S, H20xV19
Sides: dark red overbound last two pairs of warps
Ends: mostly finishing on black knotted guard line
Colors: dark blue, mid blue, pale blue, turquiose, pink, dark pink/red, maroon, ivory, yellow, black
During the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries the carpet looms of the Mughal dynasty in India produced many of the most magnificent carpets extant today. These beautiful carpets were originally woven to adorn the palaces fo the Mughal Indian aristocracy, but through Dutch, Portuguese and English trading companies they quickly became highly sought after objects by wealthy Europeans. Certain examples acquired by Westerners in the seventeenth century are still in their original European collections, such as the Sackville Family Mughal carpets at Knole and the Girdlers Carpet (woven with English Coats of Arms) in the Girdlers Company Collection, London.
The carpet offered here is one of twelve known Mughal carpets identified as the Millefleur group. While the major field designs of these carpets differ greatly, they are related by their similartity in material construction and decorative details, primarily in the minor guard borders and secondary design motifs. These elements are so similar that the group can reasonably be attributed to a single workshop. Two other examples from this group can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (see Dimand, M.S. and Mailey, J., Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1973, fig. 141, p. 126 for a carpet formerly in the collection of Benjamin Altman and fig. 142, p. 127 for a carpet from the collection of F.H. Hirschland). Within the historical context of Mughal carpets, the Millefleur group falls between the renowned early seventeenth century floral spray and trellis Mughal carpets and the eighteenth century Mughal carpets also having Millefleur designs. A comparison between the present Millefleur group carpet and the earlier Mughal carpets, shows the present carpet to be slightly more rigid and stylized in overal design. The remarkable crispness of detail and spacious, well executed drawing seen here, however, affirm the present carpet as a noble continuum of Mughal weaving traditions. The later group of Millefleur carpets clearly degenerate from the present carpet's group and become stiffer, more crowded and slightly awkward in their floral decoration. The offered carpet, as with the other members of its group, is executed with an exceptionally fine weave and is knotted with lustrous, extremely soft Pashmina wool.
With the rise of industrial wealth in the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century, many of the new American millionaires began to emulate the collecting tastes of earlier European aristocracy. Along with collecting early furniture and old master paintings, these wealthy Americans avidly acquired magnificent early carpets. During this period, many sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century Safavid Persian, Ottoman Turkish, and Mughal Indian carpets entered the collections of the most prominent Americans such as J.P. Morgan, Henry Clay Frick and Benjamin Altman. Among this esteemed group with a passion for rare, early carpets was Cornelius Vanderbilt II, who acquired the offered carpet for his palatial mansion at 1 West 57th Street in New York City. Vanderbilt fully recognized the importance of this carpet and proudly displayed it on the wall of the Moorish Smoking Room at 1 West 57th Street. The carpet was later transferred to Vanderbilt's country home, "The Breakers", in Newport, Rhode Island, where it was placed in Vanderbilt's master bedroom. After Vanderbilt's death, the carpet remained at "The Breakers" in the possession of his heirs until the settlement of the estate of his youngest daughter, Countess László Széchényi. The carpet was removed from "The Breakers" for sale in 1977. Interestingly, the appreciation of Mughal carpets existed throughout the Vanderbilt family as evidenced by two later Millefleur prayer rugs in the collection of Cornelius' youngest brother, George W. Vanderbilt, at Biltmore, in Asheville, North Carolina.
The fact that the carpet remained in the Vanderbilt family's possession for nearly 100 years may explain the extremely well preserved physical condition of the carpet. This impressive condition, along with the carpet's inherent beauty, ranks it as one of the most remarkable classical carpets existing today. In 1982, when the carpet was displayed at the Boulogne-Billancourt exhibition in Paris, it was described in the exhibition catalogue as "one of the best examples of this group of Millefleurs and one of the only ones to be in such excellent condition. The extraordinary richness of the colors and the beauty of the delicate tracery design, give it the noble character of Mughal weaving and should be considered like a masterpiece" (see Le Tapis d'Orient dans les Collections Français, 1982, p.26).