Marquand Millefleurs Niche Rug

This pashmina and silk carpet, known as the ‘Marquand Millefleurs Niche Rug’, is one of a small, elegant group of fewer than fifteen Mughal prayer rugs woven (most probably) in Kashmir for the royal court. They are considered among the very finest Mughal artworks.

Constructed from the fine underbelly hair of pashmina goats and lustrous silk, these carpets have an exquisitely soft hand and hold vivid colour beautifully. This corpus of prayer rugs is also distinguished by its delicate floral motifs. They are arranged in pleasing compositions within a central, often lobed, niche. As in this example, many of these carpets also feature a ‘flowering vase’ at the base of the niche, as well as complex floral decorations in the flanking architectural spandrels in the upper register.