A rare Indian carpet,
circa 1900.
21ft 10in x 13ft 9in : 668cm x 420cm
When the British were in India during the 19th century, many orders were given for carpets to be made on commission for the new houses built during the Raj, in Great Britian. Agra and Amritsar were the largest weaving areas to supply the demand. The colouring is typically Indian and the carpet would have been commissioned for a grand room in a country house.
The present carpet of rare weave, possibly Lahore, has an unusual design detail of roundels with a pietra dura design of a bird, usually a parrot picking at cherries, after the Italian original which uses marble or semi-precious stones inserted into table tops and various furniture as a means of embellishment. The design of European influence has similarities to English Axminster carpets in the treatment of floral decoration.
During the 17th and 18th centuries wealthy nobility and the landed gentry would go on The Grand Tour, primarily to Italy and Greece, to further ones classical education and gain cultural souvenirs and art works. In the 19th century the same tour was extended to India, under the Raj, Indians were well versed in the working with marble materials.
