Agra – North of India

This is a 120-year-old monumental Agra rug in excellent condition. This piece was inspired by the famous Persian rug, Ardabil, made in the 16^th Century for the Persian court. The main field of the rug is woven in marsala. Sixteen pendants surround the central medallion and symbolise the sun’s fullness, radiating light over all the flowers across the carpet. This flower garden is also illuminated by two lamps hanging from the central medallion’s axis. The marsala field is covered in flowers and leaves intertwined in curvilinear patterns and spiral shapes. The artist created the floral patterns to produce a sense of time: some lotus flowers and Chinese peonies are still in blossom, while others are in full bloom. The flower design invades the border of the rug. These floral designs represent spring and all the allegories associated with rebirth and fertility. The lotus flowers along the border also symbolise rebirth, and the peonies symbolise power. Lastly, this Agra features the same inscription found in 16th-century Ardebil. The four-line inscription placed at one end of the rug is a poem by the famous Persian poet Hafiz. Below the poem, the rug is signed by its artist, Maqsoud Kachani, and is dated 946 (AD 1539-40). “I have no refuge in the world beyond your threshold. There is no protection for my head beyond this door. The work of court servant Maqsud of Kashan in the year 946.” This rug is a work of art with elements of Persian and Indian history, art and culture.