Textile Museum Washington, DC
Martin attributed this carpet fragment to India about 1580 on the basis of the Fighting Elephants Fresco in Fatehpur Sikri. Others have suggested later dates including as late as the eighteenth century. Having seen this piece at the Textile Museum in 1997 I see nothing that I feel justifies a later attribution. However I also see nothing to justify an attribution to the sixteenth century. This is a cartoon rug and if there was such a striking design available in the eighteenth century I would expect to see more of these but this is the only one I can find. It also seems unlikely that someone designing the cartoon would get such an appropriate match on the earrings with the turbans. If someone were doing a later forgery and took such great pains to get it right why did they not use turbans from the sixteenth century and make a more valuable forgery. When we examine the panel in the Lahore Fort there is greater detail in the carpet fragment I suggest that the carpet and the panels draw from the same source rather than one being a copy of the other. The colors, the floral forms, the elephants, the turbans, the earrings, and the way the whole piece comes together causes me to think Lahore India, circa 1630 (+ or - 15 years) is an appropriate attribution. See Mughal Elephants In Battle c.1595-1600 1. F. R. Martin, "A History Of Oriental Carpets Before 1800." Oriental Rug Review Vol. VI, No. 3 June 1986 Page 17/65a. 2. Walker, Daniel. Flowers Underfoot. (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997) p. 164. 3. The approximation of age was accomplished by scanning my collection of images for pearl ear rings and then scanning on turban type. Then cross-referencing the two and using that group to estimate an approximate time at which one would be most likely to see these things used together. 4. Okada, Amina. Indian Miniatures of the Mughal Court. Translated by Deke Dusinberre, (New York, Harry N. Abrahms, Inc. Publishers, 1992). Plate 174. 5. Okada, Amina. Indian Miniatures of the Mughal Court. Translated by Deke Dusinberre, (New York, Harry N. Abrahms, Inc. Publishers, 1992). Plate 201. 6. Wheeler, Mortimer et al. Splendors of the East. (London: Spring Books, 1970), p. 148. 7. Wheeler, Mortimer et al. Splendors of the East. (London: Spring Books, 1970), p. 84 to 88. Authors Note: Outside of coming home to my family my next favorite place to return to is the Textile Museum, While space and time does not allow mentioning all the people at the TM who make it so very special to me I do have to mention that this project has been helped immeasurably by Sumru Krody who was kind enough to send me information on this and other pieces from the Textile Museums collection. Carpets With High Ply Count Cotton Warps, The Widener Mughal Animal Carpet For Further Reading: Thanks and best wishes, J. Barry O'Connell Jr. |
Persian Rugs the O'Connell Guides | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
