This obvious Timurid influence in this fragment was recognized by Friedrich Sarre. This piece was in Sarre's personal collection and was acquired from Sarre's heirs for the Berlin Museum in 1962. It was described in Sarre and Trenkwald as fifteenth century Timurid . Later opinion on the age of this piece shifted since it was assumed that attribution of fifteenth century could not be supported. In "Survey Review" and "700 Years" Kurt Erdmann addresses this piece and makes an excellent argument for an attributing this fragment to the sixteenth century. Friedrich Spuhler concurred with Erdmann's attribution in his book "Oriental Carpets in the Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin". 1.

Please compare the large orange floral forms. Please compare the colors and the use of color.

Certain characteristics of this fragment make it apparent to me that it must be Mughal from the Reign of the Padishah Akbar circa sixteenth century. The first clue I found was the incidence of some use of high ply count cotton warps. In surveying classical Persian carpets, wool is the primary warp material and the use of cotton warps is more often consistent with a latter attribution. It is commonly accepted that machine spun cotton warps or cotton warps with high ply counts are not common in fifteenth and sixteenth century Persia. Murray Eiland Jr. deals with many aspects of this problem in "Chinese and Exotic Rugs".2.

Please compare the large green floral forms. Please compare the colors and the use of Ton-Sur-Ton coloring.

However in the course of this project we now can show the availability of the high ply count cotton warps in Mughal India. Since this fragment uses a type of warp that is consistent with a later attribution or a Mughal attribution we must look to those two possibilities. Since there is nothing in the fragment that leads me to accept the possibility that it is a newer carpet (1850 or later) the possibility of a Mughal attribution must be given serious consideration.

Detail - Vojtech Blau Mughal Animal Carpet

Do Saphs Equal Multi-Niche Prayer Carpets?

At one point it was normal to automatically label all rugs of this general layout as Multi-Niche Prayer Rugs. Now the pendulum swings the other way and in the absence of clear evidence of religious use it is now the accepted form to label these rugs as saphs. In the absence of evidence of any proof that this was used for group prayer calling it a Saph now seems the preferred form.

The top of the saph is a common Timurid border design that was popular in Mughal India. I am not ready to concede that this is a fragment of a group prayer rug. Please note how the negative area of the arabesque leaves in the blue area from the book plate becomes the center medallion of the saph.

Detail of border elements in a sixteenth century Mughal Koran from the reign of Akbar. 3. Sotheby's London, Wednesday October 19 1994.

In Conclusion:

I feel that in light of the facts an attribution to Mughal India circa late sixteenth century is in order and certainly the most probable. I build this hypothesis on the basis of a number of points. The rug world seems in agreement that this fragment is of considerable age certainly much older than 1850. Since we have no evidence for the occurrence of high ply count cotton warps (plied but not cabled) in rug production, anywhere other than Mughal India and at no earlier point than than the reign of Akbar. It does not seem that an attribution to Persia in either the fifteenth or early sixteenth century is supportable. Combined with this is the frequent occurrence of saphs in Mughal India and a relative scarcity of Persian saphs. To this we must add the Mughal like color usage and the incidence of aberrant floral forms.

1. Spuhler, Friedrich. Pinner, Robert trans. Oriental Carpets in the Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin. (Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press 1987). p. 82 and 83 plate 81.

2. Eiland, Murray L. Jr. Chinese and Exotic Rugs. (Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1979). p. 177 and 178.

3. Sotheby's, Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures (Catalogue) London, October 19, 1994. Large Koran, Mughal India, late Sixteenth Century. Folio 3a, Lot 24,

The Widener Mughal Animal Carpet