The Rug Library

Indo-Persian carpets typically have symmetrical vine scrolls and large palmettes in the field, with palmettes and 'strap arabesques' in the main border.

Paisley designs became popular in the West in the 18th and 19th centuries largely through imported Kashmir shawls, which carried post-Mughal versions of the boteh motif from India.

Early Mughal carpets closely resemble contemporary Persian rugs, especially those from Herat, before a distinct Mughal way of depicting flowers emerged later in the 17th century.

A Met carpet of the late 16th–early 17th century mixes Safavid Persian motifs such as ibexes, qilins and cloud bands with distinctly Indian features: palm trees, naturalistic animals and a bright red field.

Some Indian carpets recall 16th-century Herat carpets from Iran through serrated leaves around a palmette, but their lively flowers and rich colour point to Indian manufacture.

Smarthistory notes that India probably had no native knotted-carpet tradition before Muslim rulers arrived, and that the Mughals soon set up weaving workshops at their courts.

'Chahar bagh' is Persian for 'four gardens', a garden plan divided into four parts by water channels that garden carpets translate into woven form.

The Wagner Garden Carpet, woven in 17th-century Kirman, is counted among the oldest surviving Persian garden carpets and measures over 4 by 5 metres.

A Safavid garden carpet from Kerman, bought in Lahore in 1632 by Mirza Raja Jai Singh of Amber, is held by the Albert Hall Museum in Jaipur.

Cloud bands became an important motif on 16th-century Persian carpets, and designers of that era used them with particular elegance.

Under Akbar, royal workshops called farrash-khanas made kilims, jajams and shatranjis as well as knotted carpets, helped by skilled weavers arriving from Iran and Central Asia.

Akbar's carpet workshops in Lahore and Agra were overseen by Persian master craftsmen and known for designs drawn from nature, with detailed flowers and animals.

Seventeenth-century carpets from Mughal India and the Deccan sultanates show motifs travelling through cultural and trade exchange with Iran, the Middle East and Europe.