Joseph V. McMullan Mughal Prayer Rug

Joseph V. McMullan Mughal Prayer Rug Lahore, Circa Second Quarter Seventeenth Century Size: 5’1" by 3’4 ½ " Warp: cotton 4 and 7 Z s plied alternate warps very depressed. Carpets With High Ply Count Cotton Warps Weft: 1 & 3 cotton ivory 2Z 32 Silk Red I-yarn Pile: wool, 3 or 4 z-yarns, asymmetrical open left, 15 H X 15 v per inch 225 per square inch. Color: 10 crimson, rose, blue-green, dark blue, tan, light tan, brown, light brown, aubergine, ivory Condition: woven bottom end first re-knotting along central axis of rug and a few other areas, no original ends or selvage.

On the basis of the High Ply Count Cotton Warps I have become convinced that a attribution of Lahore is in order. The presence of 7 ply warps as well as the similarities in pile ply count as well as knot count adds to my confidence in a Lahore attribution. The art work makes me feel it is a later piece and an attribution of Second quarter seventeenth century seems appropriate.

The McMullan Mughal Prayer rug is one of a very small group of single plant Mughal rugs 1. There are two of these known. The Pincket rug is much finer but very similar in design. There is also the Aynard Saph fragment in the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection. Some people have grouped that fragment with these two but I fail to see a close enough similarity to do so. It is worth noting that they are group together because of their attribution to India and in that the stylistic similarity of a single plant they are not definitely attributable to the same area nor are they structurally similar.

Authors Note:

I have not had a chance to personally examine this Prayer Rug and I am basing this primarily on the structural information in "Prayer Rugs" by Louise Mackie, Textile Museum, Washington DC, 1974. Picture courtesy of the Near Eastern Art Research Center, Inc. W. Russell Pickering Chairman.

1. Mackie, Louise et al. Prayer Rugs. (Washington DC: Textile Museum), 1974. Page 86. The attribution is to Persia in the book with a note that Ellis attributes it to India.

Carpets With High Ply Count Cotton Warps, The Widener Mughal Animal Carpet

For Further Reading:

Guide to Rugs & Books

La Miniature En Orient

Southwest Asia Time Line

Thanks and best wishes,

J. Barry O'Connell Jr.

Index to my Rug Notes

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