Customer Reviews

Flowers Underfoot: Indian Carpets of the Mughal Era

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This book, a catalogue of an exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum in 1998, should be in the library of any self respecting carpet enthusiast. It covers the
pile woven carpets manufactured during the Mughal era. The 2 great Mughal leaders were Abu Akbar (ruled from 1556-1605) and Shah Jahan (ruled from 1628-58).

Carpets from this era are very rare; this fact is partially due to a disastrous fire in 1579 when (so it was reported) 10 million textiles, tents, carpets etc were destroyed in a warehouse fire. Most of the quality carpets still existing originate from the Shah Jahan era. Remember that Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal. The end of his era signaled the end of the great Mughal reigns and the ceasing of quality carpet manufacture.

This famous exhibition assembled many of the great surviving Mughal carpets. There were 44 exhibits. The catalogue, now out of print and a collector's item, has excellent color reproductions and an authoritative text by Daniel Walker.