Ashtapada Game-Board Carpet

The Ashtapada Carpet is notable for both its remarkable preservation and its age, holding the distinction of being the oldest known complete silk-pile carpet still extant. Dated to the early 9th century AH/early 15th century CE, it has been attributed to Central India, possibly Bidar, and may have been made under the Bahmanid Sultanate. The elite of the sultanate largely consisted of Iranian and Turkic migrants from northern India, who shared strong cultural and linguistic ties with Iran. This carpet stands out for its bright colours and the unique motif of a gaming board. The term ashtapada (literally 'eight-legged' in Sanskrit) has been used for centuries to describe an eight-square by eight-square Indian gaming board, which explains the carpet’s name.

The chessboard design, seen exclusively on carpets of the 9th and 10th centuries AH/15th century CE, features an eight-by-eight grid with a yellow outer edge and an inner red field. At the centre of the carpet is an octagonal medallion in a square, a motif commonly found on rugs from Anatolia during the 8th and 9th centuries AH/14th and 15th centuries CE. The central octagon is composed of flowers in bloom: at the centre of the medallion blue and yellow blossoms appear, surrounded by white star-shaped flowers. The carpet also has an interlaced pseudo-kufic border, a feature that can be found on Spanish wool carpets of similar dates, as well as on Anatolian examples. These Kufesque borders are also present in carpets depicted in manuscript illustrations from the Timurid period onwards. The field design, which is filled with a repeating pattern of green, blue, yellow and white flowers or leaves, draws inspiration from 8th century AH/14th century CE.