Page 214 - ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND INDIAN WORLDS Carpets, Ceramics Objects, Christie's London Oct..27, 2022

for their colour or scent, including blue or white or sandalwood-coloured
The following lot essay has been written, for the purposes of this jessamines, red or light yellow roses, and two kinds of lilies, one grown in
catalogue, by Daniel Walker, former Patti Cadby Birch Curator in Charge gardens, the other wild.[3]
of the Department of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York; Director of The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C. Jahangir was fascinated by the natural world surrounding him and tasked
members of his painting workshop to record what he considered special
The present carpet represents the highest level of production found at the or unusual. He was accompanied in Kashmir by his favorite natural history
Mughal court in the middle of the 17 century. With knots of pashmina wool, painter, Mansur, who on this trip produced more than 100 paintings of
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fine goat hair traditionally used to weave shawls in Kashmir and Lahore, local flowers, of which three survive.[4] These works were very influential
and a foundation of silk, the carpet consists of luxury materials. The weave and served as the basis for a new interest in flower “portraits,” treated
is extremely fine, with an average of 672 knots per square inch. The field much like the paintings of nobles, standing quite formally and set against
pattern involves an elaborate diamond lattice framework of leafy foliage a plain ground, that had been commissioned by Akbar. Mansur, stimulated
which twists and coils at regular intervals. The lattice forms cartouche-like by Jahangir’s powers of observation, placed new emphasis on naturalistic
compartments containing single flowers arranged in a radial formation - lilies representation.
(white), sunflowers (yellow), and possibly cockscomb (red, pink, and white) --
shown in silhouette on a deep and brilliant crimson-red ground.[1] The main Jahangir provided the incentive for the new style but the visual model came
border design features a pattern of reciprocal vines whose curves embrace from Europe, in the form of manuscripts or loose sheets of scientifically
clusters of unidentified flower blossoms. These vines, also set against a red accurate representations of flowers known as herbals. These became very
ground, incorporate miniature stylised cloud wisps derived from Chinese popular in Mughal court circles and workshops and were brought to India by
tradition. The main border is framed by identical minor borders consisting of clergymen and other European visitors. A generic connection can be seen
a reciprocal vine bearing small blossoms and leaves. The fine weave allows in the formal poses of the plants, in the interest in naturalistic portrayal,
for the presentation of minute naturalistic details, especially in the blossoms in shading, and even in the provision of extra details such as butterflies or
of the flowers, the lattice, and the vine scroll in the main border. The carpet dragonflies fluttering nearby. This connection has been demonstrated very
is now almost square but it has been shortened: originally the length was specifically by the discovery of a European herbal subject, dating from 1608
approximately 4.4 meters. Three smaller fragments in public and private (first edition), and a Mughal copy, attributable to about 1635.[5] The flower
collections are probably survivors of a prior campaign to excise areas of style, thus initiated in paintings under the emperor Jahangir in the later years
damage.[2] of his rule, did not become the dominant court style until the reigns of Shah
Jahan (r. 1627 – 1658) and his son Aurangzeb (r. 1658 – 1707).
THE FLOWER STYLE
The genesis of the flower style in Indian art can be traced to the visit of
the Mughal emperor Jahangir (r. 1605-27) to Kashmir in 1620. Not known
as an innovator or a territorial expansionist or a religious radical, Jahangir
(The World-Seizer) had the wisdom to maintain the tolerant approach and
policies of his father Akbar, who had ruled successfully for fifty years. Akbar
had been a great patron of the arts and established royal carpet workshops
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during the last quarter of the 16 century. With the affairs of state well in
hand, Jahangir not only continued to support the arts, he was a true collector
and a sensitive connoisseur as well. He had a special appreciation for the
beautiful and the unusual, such as exotic animals, for example.
Jahangir had been to Kashmir before but not in the Spring, when the flowers Detail of pietra dura inlay within the Taj Mahal,Agra, © 2019 Alamy Ltd.
were in full bloom, and he recorded his enthusiasm in rich detail in his
memoirs:
As the new ornamental style in architectural decoration and the decorative
“Kashmir is a garden of eternal arts took hold, single flower “portraits” were given more elaborate form.
spring, or an iron fort to a palace Naturalistic flowers were thus shown in profile in rows, combined with lattice
of kings – A delightful flower-bed, patterns, or presented in a more abstract way as blossoms instead of flowers
and a heart-expanding heritage in profile.[6]
for dervishes…. Wherever the eye
reaches, there are verdure and After about 1630, the flower style largely (but not entirely) supplanted the
running water. The red rose, the previous style which had been favoured at the Persian court. This Persian
violet, and the narcissus grow of style consisted of two main varieties: one was a pictorial type dependent
themselves; in the fields, there are on the book-illustration tradition, the other involved patterns based on
all kinds of flowers and all sorts of symmetrical networks of scrolling vines and palmettes and sometimes
sweet-scented herbs more than can overlaid with animals or medallions.[7] Although there are scattered
be calculated. In the soul-enchanting references to carpet production in India in earlier times, it was under the
spring the hills and plains are filled rule of the emperor Akbar (r. 1556 – 1605) that court workshops for carpets
with blossoms; the gate, the walls, were established, first at Fatehpur Sikri and Agra and later at Lahore and
the courts, the roofs, are lighted up Kashmir. Commercial manufacture existed in parallel to court production. In
by the torches of banquet-adorning about 1590, Abul Fazl, Akbar’s chronicler, stresses how many weavers had
tulips…..Thank God that on this settled in India and how active the trade in carpets had become. Although
occasion I beheld the beauties of carpet production in India was now flourishing, demand for Persian carpets
An illustration from Le jardin spring.” Jahangir goes on to identify continued to be strong.[8] However, after 1630 or so, the vast majority of
du roy très Chrestien Henry IV,
1608, Pierre Vallet particular flowers that were special court carpets woven in India reflected the new taste for the Flower Style.
Opposite:
Prince Aurangzeb reports to Emperor Shah Jahan in 1649, from the Padshahnama,
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Add.Or.3853 © British Library