The Getty Mughal Shrub Carpet 1.


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Lahore Circa Second Quarter Seventeenth Century

Shrub type Mughal carpets such as this piece formerly in the Getty Collection and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu are generally attributed to Mughal India or more specifically Lahore India, in the first half of the seventeenth century. This is in keeping with both the stylistic and structural observations in my work. Because of the presence of High Ply Count Warps Lahore seems to be a appropriate attribution. The age of this carpet is harder to estimate. I agree with seventeenth century and because of the spatial relationships of field elements I would date it after 1615. I feel that circa second quarter is most probable.

Significance of the Spatial Relationships of Field Elements in Shrub Type Mughal Carpets

Farruhk Beg was a Mongol artist who was in the atelier of Ebrahim Mirza in Khorasan until 1585. He spent 1585 to 1600 at the the atelier of Akbar. Farruhk Beg was downsized in 1600 in the same design shift in which Miskin fell out of favor. He was in the Deccan until 1608 and this shows the style he used when he returned to the court of Jahangir in Mughal India. While the realistic detail in Mughal Shrub Carpets may derive from European botanicals the rows of clumps of flowers appears to have entered the Mughal design repertoire from the work of Farruhk Beg upon his return from the Deccan.

Detail from "Young Man With Narcissus" 2.

Circa 1610 - 1615 Mughal India, signed Farruhk Beg, San Diego Museum of Art.

Farruhk Beg was a Mongol artist who was in the atelier of Ebrahim Mirza in Khorasan until 1585. He spent 1585 to 1600 at the the atelier of Akbar. Farruhk Beg was downsized in 1600 in the same design shift in which Miskin fell out of favor. He was in the Deccan until 1608 and this shows the style he used when he returned to the court of Jahangir in Mughal India. While the realistic detail in Mughal Shrub Carpets may derive from European botanicals the rows of clumps of flowers appears to have entered the Mughal design repertoire from the work of Farruhk Beg upon his return from the Deccan.

1. Okada, Amina. Indian Miniatures of the Mughal Court. Translated by Deke Dusinberre, (New York: Harry N. Abrahms, Inc. Publishers, 1992), p. 116 to 124 plate 134

2.Eiland, Murray L. Jr. Chinese and Exotic Rugs. (Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1979), p. 137 plate 110.

3. It is commonly written that Farruhk Beg was a Persian born artist but I have decided that that is unlikely. Farruhk is a very talented artist and there is no other Farruhk who was of similar stature at the court of Akbar. So when we look at Abu'l Fazl list of the most important artist I believe that Farruhk Beg is the Farruhk the Qalmaq listed ninth. A Qalmaq or Kalmuck as it is often written refers to a member of the Oirat tribe. The Oirat were a Mongol tribe that in 1453 assassinated the Chingizi Mongol Khan Toqtoa-buqa and became vassals of China. An extremely important and powerful tribal nation- state the Oirat held the land from the upper Yenisi to the valley of the Ili. For a discussion of the Oirat in this period see Rene Grousset, The Empire of the Steppes, Naomi Walford translator, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University press, 1994), p. 507 - 509.

The Getty Mughal Shrub Carpet Technical Description, Getty Shaped Mughal Carpet, The Widener Mughal Animal Carpet,

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