Middle East, Textile, Carpet; Carpet, wool and cotton pile on wool foundation, design of prayer arch or mihrab, Kairouan, Tunisia, 1840-1880

Carpet, wool and cotton knotted pile on wool foundation, Kairouan, Tunisia, 1840-1880
DESIGN: Field: dark blue field with small scale trellils of diagonals of red and green crossing yellow and green which along the narrow sides and top becomes a twisted ribbon. Most of the field is covered by a stepped niche outlined in white from which green carnations project inwards towards a vertical white column with a meander of birds with three star-filled octagons* on either side of column.
Borders (from centre outwards):
(1) white ground with dark red stylised angular meander with green buds.
(2) red ground with multi-coloured octagons *(see field).
Lower Panel: 2 bands of diagonally opposed cloud bands on dark red ground.
(3) dark blue ground with rosettes largely in a equence of blue, orange and dark red.
(4) orange ground with barred 'S' motifs in several colours.
(5) undecorated dark red.
(6) white ground with crenellated square foliate motif in various colours.
Upper Panel: as lower but wider.
(7) green ground with curvilinear meander in red, white and yellow.
(8) as (5) but missing along upper edge.
(9) as the Field's central column but missing along upper edge.
(10) as (5) but missing along upper and lower edges.
Catalogue Date: 6-5-98

Small carpets such as this with a single arch are sometimes referred to as 'prayer carpets' because mats are often used to define a person's space during muslim prayer rituals. The arch is usually taken to represent the mihrab or decorative panel in the wall of a mosque which indicates the direction of Mecca. The pile of this carpet has been left relatively long and, as a consequence, the edges of the design are not very sharp. Cotton has been used for the white pile because it gives a clear white, whereas wool tends to have a more creamy colour.

329-1894