The Rug Library

Under the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal dynasties, carpet weaving shifted from a village craft based on inherited patterns to a state-supported industry whose designs were created in court workshops.

The Girdlers' Carpet, roughly 27 by 8 feet, travelled from the port of Surat to London and was used as a table covering in the Girdlers' court room, making it one of the best-documented Mughal carpets.

Northern India and present-day eastern Pakistan were an important carpet-weaving region in the late 17th and 18th centuries, where millefleur carpets and later flower-style pieces were made.

The Ain-i-Akbari, the account of Akbar’s administration written in Persian by his court historian Abu’l Fazl between about 1589 and 1596, is a key primary source for the Mughal imperial workshops.

The Mughal emperors ruled large parts of India from 1526 to 1858, a span that frames the 'Mughal period' used to date many Indian court carpets.

The upheaval of 1857 disrupted established carpet-weaving centres such as Agra and Delhi and pushed some weavers to resettle elsewhere, including the Mirzapur–Bhadohi area.

The Colonial and Indian Exhibition opened at South Kensington, London, in May 1886 and drew about 5.5 million visitors; Indian crafts, including carpet weaving, were demonstrated there.

India occupied roughly a third of the exhibition space at the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition, and its court of working artisans was among the most popular attractions.

Google Arts & Culture holds an image of the Durbar tent in the 'Indian Palace' of the Indian section at the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition, a record of how Indian furnishings were staged for British audiences.

The Girdlers' Company’s Indian carpet was reproduced as a lithograph in the Victorian period, showing the carpet was already regarded as a notable example of Mughal weaving in the 19th century.