Border Fragment Of An Early Indian Carpet, Decan or Lahore
66 x 58 cm (2' 2" x 1' 11")
India, second half 16th century
Condition: fragment, mostly good pile, heavily corroded purple
Warp: cotton, weft: cotton, pile: wool

On a black background lies a huge golden yellow to light ochre palmette with an ultramarine blue frame. Inside, on a thin stem, a palmette that is so popular in India blossoms characteristic in white, golden yellow, light green, red, cornflower blue and (corroded) red-violet drawn flower bud inside view, surrounded by further small buds in bright blue and green.

Sitting outside on brown stalks in the for the mogul time typical species frontally shown, white flowers. While the wool pile is excellent overall the corroded red-violet section inside the flower bud may suggest the use of silk, which is not typical for Indian carpets of the 16th century (see also the Deccan carpet no. 47 in Spuhler/König/Volkmann, Alte Orientteppiche, Munich 1978, which, although only much later, was dated 17th century, similarly corroded areas of the same colour.)

Colour combination and execution of the border, which belonged to an unusually large carpet, however, speak without doubt for its origin in India around 1550-1570.