Niche or Prayer Carpet

This is the first carpet purchased for the museum after its founding. Together with numerous embroideries, it was purchased in 1868 from the Mekhitarist Congregation based in Vienna. It supposedly came via Persia to Vienna and formed the starting point of the internationally notable carpet collection. If one compares it with the pictorial carpet with landscape and pairs of birds (Or 292), one clearly recognizes the further development of the Mughal style: away from the naturalistic depictions towards the detailed millefleurs design of the center field and the integration of vegetal elements into the architecture, such as the flanking cypresses. The carpet displays a pile made of fine Pashmina wool, which allowed especially detailed lines.