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#009: By Xavier F. Salomon, Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Transcript

Woven with precious threads of silk and pashmina wool, these two carpets were made in the royal manufactories of northern India in the seventeenth century. At the time, India was ruled by the Muslim Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, celebrated for having built the Taj Mahal, a mausoleum for his favorite wife. These rugs may have once decorated one of Shah Jahan’s palaces or may have been used as diplomatic gifts.

Each carpet is composed of fragments of much larger and longer rugs. Over the centuries, the carpets were damaged by wear and tear; and in the late nineteenth century, some of the best-preserved areas were reassembled in order to create objects to be sold on the market in the west. Fragments from the same carpets survive in other public and private collections.

Mughal carpets are known for their graceful depictions of trees and flowers set against bright red backgrounds. Some of the plants and flowers can be identified, while others are creations of the artists who designed the carpets.

Henry Clay Frick placed these carpets on the floor of two rooms in his mansion on East 70th Street. But this does not mean he was unaware of their importance. In fact, he actually paid more for them than he did for some of the Impressionist paintings in his collection. For conservation reasons, the carpets are now displayed in cases, shown upright, unfortunately distorting the original effect they would have had as imaginary gardens underfoot.

Carpet with Flowers

Dateca. 1650
MediumSilk (warp and weft) and pashmina (pile)
Dimensions76 × 46 in. (193 × 116.8 cm)
Credit LineHenry Clay Frick Bequest
Accession number1916.10.08
Commentary

Due to their constant use in palaces and mosques for hundreds of years, only about five hundred Mughal carpets survive today, and these are often in poor condition. Designed and woven in the middle of the seventeenth century, toward the end of the reign of Shah Jahan, this rare fragment depicts seven varieties of plants arranged with no apparent symmetry but not overlapping, in a seemingly spontaneous composition. Although such floral designs are often found on Indian carpets, the monumental scale of each principal flower on this fragment is unique. No other fragments of this carpet are known to have survived.

Source: Vignon, Charlotte. The Frick Collection Decorative Arts Handbook. New York: The Frick Collection/Scala, 2015.

Collection History

Duveen. Frick, 1916.

Source: Enamels, Rugs and Silver in The Frick Collection. Volume VIII. New York: The Frick Collection, 1977.

Not On View
Dark red square Indian rug with design of trees and flowers
Mughal India (1526-1857)
ca. 1630
Dark red rectangular Persian rug with floral design
Persian, Herat
second half of the 16th century
Woven tapestry depicting deer hunt in wooded landscape with mythological figure
Flemish (Brussels?), Seventeenth Century
ca. 1620
Woven tapestry depicting shepherdesses arriving at a wedding
Workshop of Peter van den Hecke
1730−45 (before 1748)
Woven tapestry depicting figures near a harbor
Workshop of Peter van den Hecke
1730−45 (before 1748)
Woven tapestry depicting bear hunt in wooded landscape
Flemish (Brussels?)
ca. 1580−1620
Woven tapestry depicting deer hunt in wooded landscape
Flemish (Brussels?)
ca. 1580−1620
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