Millefleur Carpet with a Flower-and-Trellis Pattern

Unknown

late 18th–early 19th century · Cotton (warp and weft), wool (pile); asymmetrically knotted pile · Islamic Art

A lozenge diaper pattern of floral stems provides visual structure to this millefleur carpet with hundreds of densely arranged flowers. In a break from more typical millefleur designs in which flowers fill a niche-like space or simply cover the entire field with an abundance of blossoms, the flowers of this carpet are arranged in a repeating geometric pattern. The presence of five and seven blossoms clustered on each stem was typical of millefleur carpets produced in the preceding century in Kashmir.

Artist

Unknown

Date

late 18th–early 19th century

Medium

Cotton (warp and weft), wool (pile); asymmetrically knotted pile

Department

Islamic Art

Credit line

Gift of Joseph V. McMullan, 1967