Prayer rug

Description

Carpet, silk, woven in different colours with a blossoming tree, two flower vases and cartouches with an inscription: West Asia, Iran, Kashan, by Hajji Mullah Muhammad Hasan Mohtasham, 1850 - 1860

Museum reference

A.1899.280

Collection

World Culture

Object name

Prayer rug, Rug, Carpet

Production information

Mohtasham, Muhammad Hasan, Hajji Mullah, 1840 - 1890 (fl.), Weaver
Kashan, Iran, West Asia

Date

1850 - 1860

Style / Culture

Qajar period

Materials

Silk

Physical description

Carpet, silk, woven with a symmetrical pattern of a tree with varied flowers underneath an arch, flanked by two large flower vases; the field framed by a wide border and guard stripes; in the spandrels two cartouches with the signature of the weaver; top and bottom a fringe. There are at least fifteen different colours used in its pattern.

Exhibitions

• Within the Middle East (12 May 1995)
  Royal Museum of Scotland

References

Voigt, Friederike. “’A place where eternally blossoming roses grow’: The garden in Iranian textiles”, Journal of the Oriental Rug and Textile Society, 4 (2), Summer 2021, pp. 4-9 and fig. 11.

Scarce, Jennifer M., Domestic culture in the Middle East : An exploration of the household interior, Edinburgh, National Museums of Scotland, 1996