The Rug Library

The English word 'paradise' derives from an ancient Persian term, 'pairidaeza', meaning walled garden, which helps explain why garden carpets are often read as images of paradise.

The Met describes the Wagner Garden Carpet's design as drawing on both the pre-Islamic Persian idea of paradise and Qur'anic descriptions of the Garden of Heaven.

In Persian garden carpets, specific trees and flowers such as the cypress and rose may carry poetic or mystical meanings beyond the general idea of paradise, according to the Met.

Some Mughal carpets from about 1630 show a single flowering plant under an arch; because the arch resembles a mihrab, these are usually called prayer rugs in the rug literature.

A mihrab is the niche that shows the direction of Mecca in a mosque; prayer rugs use a niche or arch shape that evokes it, usually at a size suited to one person.

Hanging lamps shown in the arch of some prayer rugs are often read as a reference to the 'Light' verse of the Qur'an.

Britannica describes fertility or abundance as the underlying theme of most carpet ornament, and reads the central medallion as symbolising two vital elements, the sun and water.

A Turkmen gul is often described as a tribal emblem, with each tribe, such as the Tekke or Yomut, using its own gul much like a heraldic device.

Turkmenistan's national flag, adopted in 1992, has a vertical stripe of five carpet guls, generally read as representing the country's major tribes.

The Met describes the Wagner Garden Carpet as a garden in eternal springtime: trees in full bloom, predators and prey, butterflies and birds, with fish and ducks in its waterways.

In Persian art the tree of life is often interpreted as a symbol of continuity, spiritual growth and the link between the natural and divine worlds.

On some prayer rugs the niche is read as a doorway opening onto a garden, possibly paradise, combining the mosque's mihrab with the older Persian tree-of-life idea.

The boteh or buta is widely described as a motif long associated with nobility and royalty.

The lotus recurs in Hindu and Buddhist art as a symbol of creation, purity and enlightenment, which helps explain its lasting presence in Indian decorative design.

A study of Mughal flora in textiles examines symbolic meanings linked to the lotus, tulip and chrysanthemum, relating them to themes of beauty, divinity and power.