Photograph: Longevity, London
INDIAN SILK CARPETS
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ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SILK PILE CARPETS in the world 1, the Doha ‘Ashtapada’ carpet, was acquired by the Qatari National Council for Culture Arts and Heritage (NCCAH) in 1997. It has fresh vibrant colours, high silk pile, a superb artistic design and is in an outstanding state of preservation.2 It has been called the ‘Ashtapada’ carpet because of a unique design detail, the gaming board knotted into the pattern 52. Ashtapada (literally ‘eight-legged’ in Sanskrit) is the name given to an eight-square by eight-square Indian gaming board.3 It is also the name of an ancient Indian race game originally played on such a board, probably with dice. The modern chessboard can possibly be traced back to the ashtapada board.4 When this unique silk carpet was acquired in Kathmandu in 1988 by an American antiques dealer and his local partner, no other oriental carpet with this field design or with a gaming board knotted into the pattern was known or published. Although I prefer not to offer opinions without physical examination and scientific testing, prior to the carpet’s acquisition, my opinion was sought by the dealers in Nepal, based in the first instance on detailed black and white images sent to me by fax.5 I responded, with all the necessary caveats, that in my opinion the carpet was probably from the mid-15th century, made in India and based upon a Turkish or possibly a Spanish model. For while the exact leaf form in the field 2 could not be found on ceramics, stucco work, textile patterns or in manuscripts, the general pattern seemed somewhat similar to designs on 15th century Valencia armorial lustreware 3, in which we see
features such as the inversion of the leaf motif from row to row, and the spiral stem surrounding the leaves,6 which may have morphed into octagons when transposed into a woven design. I proposed that perhaps parts of the design were adapted from a 15th century Spanish carpet, as elements within the medallion and the primary Kufesque borders are to be found on Spanish wool carpets of similar date, as well as, more commonly, on Turkish examples. I was already aware of wool pile carpets made in India in the 15th century copying either Spanish or Turkish designs 48, 49, and a small group of 15th century Indian lampas silks, rediscovered in Tibet in the 1960s, also have patterns based upon Spanish originals, establishing that Spanish silk textiles had reached India by this time. Although my initial proposal as to the origin of parts of the pattern, as well as the Indian attribution, were firmly dismissed by the prospective purchasers, they nevertheless proceeded with the acquisition. The carpet’s American co-owner soon became convinced that it had been made in Samarkand, the capital of the Timurid Empire. He further proposed that the carpet may have belonged to Timur himself (who was particularly fond of chess), and that the Emperor would have sat on the medallion to play the game. While no Samarkand carpets from this period are known to have survived, the attribution was based in the first instance on related Kufesque border designs on carpets depicted in Timurid period miniature paintings 4, 29. In 1996, not long after its first publication in Chess Monthly magazine, ‘Tamerlane’s Chessboard Carpet from Samarkand’ was
1 The ‘Ashtapada’ carpet, possibly the Deccan, south India, first half 15th century. Silk pile on a cotton foundation, 1.63 x 3.71m (5'4" x 12'2"). Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar, CA.19.97
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