A SPIRAL TENDRIL AND PALMETTE CARPET

MUGHAL INDIA, MID 17TH CENTURY

Details
A SPIRAL TENDRIL AND PALMETTE CARPET
MUGHAL INDIA, MID 17TH CENTURY
The shaded burgundy field with a counterposed design of bold polychrome palmettes and cloudbands within angular meandering palmette, flowerhead and leafy vine, in a broad shaded bottle-green border of polychrome serrated palmette and floral vine between light blue and yellow reciprocal skittle-pattern and burgundy palmette and flowerhead vine stripes, backed, slight overall wear, areas of repiling and old conservation
14ft.6in. x 6ft.11in. (442cm. x 211cm.)

Lot Essay

In contrast to lots 404 and 405 in this sale, this carpet is certainly representative of the Indian descendants of the Persian originals of this design. The colours are slightly different; in particular the yellow has more of a mustard quality to it. The drawing is also different; the palmettes appearing to float more in space without the clearly defined tendrils of the other two. This is partly due to another Indian feature, that of drawing details, including some of the tendrils, in pink on the red ground. This feature can be seen on a number of Mughal carpets, such as the Girdler's carpet (Irwin, J.: The Girdler's Carpet, small pamphlet, London, 1962) commissioned from Lahore in 1634.

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