A fine and rare Agra carpet

India, c1890 

17ft 1in   x   16ft 7in     :   522cm   x   503cm

Provenance:  The late John Derby-Allcroft, Stokesay Court, Shropshire.

With the expansion of the British Empire and the subsequent increase in the demand for exotic goods from the new territories, the British Raj was able to supervise and control productions of carpets in India. Agra became the main centre where the jail was noted for the fine carpets woven by the inmates, though other workshops also existed.

The design derives from the Persian original popular during the reign of Shah Abbas I (1571-1629). Commissions were received from many stately homes and also by the new mercantile classes, which had emerged in Victorian England.

The Allcrofts at Stockesay Court, Shropshire, commissioned a particularly fine set of six Agra carpets for the principal rooms. Stokesay Court was built for John Derby Allcroft, by Thomas Harris of London. Allcroft, a rich merchant was a keen philanthropist and a Christian evangelist, building numerous churches.  By establishing a London headquarters and opening branches on the continent and in the United States,  by the late 19th century Dent & Allcroft were the largest glove-making firm in the world. The house itself was one of England's first to have integral electric light system, installed by Edmundsons in 1891.

The present carpet, though with a classical design has modernist tendencies in the colouring and with this in mind can be used in both traditional and contemoprary interior design schemes.