Muraqqa

Thirty leaves of the traditional rug

An album of 30 leaves in 4 chapters

A muraqqa is an album.

The Mughal court mounted its finest paintings and calligraphy on separate leaves, each inside a margin painted or flecked with gold, so that every page could be studied on its own and still belong to one book.

This collection is put together the same way. Thirty traditional rugs, each one a leaf: the Persian and Mughal designs that the court carpet workshops of the 1590s made their own, as Jaipur weaves them today. They are read the way a traditional rug is read, from the field to the round.

Origin: Jaipur, Rajasthan
Materials: Hand-spun New Zealand wool with mulberry silk accents, cotton warp
Density: 6 to 14 knots per inch
Lead Time: 6 to 10 months on the loom

Download Collection (PDF)

Every leaf in the album. Tap one to turn to it.

IMatn

IIToranj

IIIHashiya

IVGerd

Chapter I

Matn

The field. Blossom, vine and palmette run from edge to edge with nothing at the centre to gather them, so the eye wanders the way it would in a garden.

10 pieces · Swipe to turn the leaves

f. 1I

Gilded Garden

Blossoms scattered over a field of old gold, with no centre to gather them, inside a narrow border of the same honey tones.

Folio 1 / 10

f. 2I

Celadon

A cool green ground under a lattice of pale flowers, framed by a slim border in the same green.

Folio 2 / 10

f. 3I

Lapis

A blue field crowded with blossom in rust, honey and ivory, set inside a wide ivory border.

Folio 3 / 10

f. 4I

Lagoon Marigold

Marigold yellow flowers on a deep lagoon teal, framed in heather purple.

Folio 4 / 10

f. 5I

Porcelain Palmette

Porcelain white makes the field almost bright.

Folio 5 / 10

f. 6I

Sable Bouquet

Near-black navy forms the ground, and the design on it is built in four mirrored quarters: large palmettes, cloud-band scrolls in teal and sage, and blossoms in gold, rose and olive, gathered around a central cluster.

Folio 6 / 10

f. 7I

Ebony Garland

The ground is so deep a midnight blue that it reads as black from across the room.

Folio 7 / 10

f. 8I

Scarlet Rosette

Scarlet frames a crowded, colourful field.

Folio 8 / 10

f. 9I

Firozi Bel

Firozi, the soft turquoise of old Indian enamel, washes the field in a pale aqua with gentle abrash.

Folio 9 / 10

f. 10I

Sona Jaali

Interlacing bands do the drawing here.

Folio 10 / 10

Chapter II

Toranj

The medallion. The word means citron. The shape opens at the centre of the field like a pool, and everything else on the rug is arranged around it.

6 pieces · Swipe to turn the leaves

f. 11II

Rosewater

A pale medallion floats in a navy field, red at the corners and ivory all round.

Folio 1 / 6

f. 12II

Cinnamon Star

A star of vines opens from the centre of a brown field and reaches into an ivory border.

Folio 2 / 6

f. 13II

Walled Garden

The field is divided into panels, each planted with its own motif, the way a garden is laid out in beds.

Folio 3 / 6

f. 14II

Burnished Dome

Drawn from the inside of a dome, the field radiates outward from a central gold sunburst in rings of leaf-shaped petals, each ring larger than the last, until the outermost petals meet the border.

Folio 4 / 6

f. 15II

Malachite Medallion

A large lobed panel of deep malachite green fills the field, its stepped edges cutting into ivory corners.

Folio 5 / 6

f. 16II

Kattha Arabesque

Kattha, the catechu brown of paan, gives this field its deep chocolate colour.

Folio 6 / 6

Chapter III

Hashiya

The border. Here the frame carries the weight: broad bands of palmettes and guard stripes hold a quieter field inside them.

9 pieces · Swipe to turn the leaves

f. 17III

Terracotta

A rust field of blossom held by a broad ivory border of palmettes.

Folio 1 / 9

f. 18III

Clove

Caramel inside, a deep brown border outside, and a fine scatter of flowers across the field.

Folio 2 / 9

f. 19III

Raven Palmette

Columns of gold and camel palmettes run down a black field, each one stacked on a smaller bud and tied to its neighbours by fine grey tendrils.

Folio 3 / 9

f. 20III

Ivory Frame

Rows of small palmettes on an ivory field, inside a wide border of near black and bark brown.

Folio 4 / 9

f. 21III

Garnet Palmette

Garnet red, deep and slightly brown, carries an open design of palmettes, curling arabesque leaves and small blossoms in gold, olive and cream, mirrored around a central rosette.

Folio 5 / 9

f. 22III

Coral Lotus

Coral pink, with soft natural variation across the field, sets off dark olive and brown palmettes, lotus blooms and curled leaves.

Folio 6 / 9

f. 23III

Kirmiz Phool

The border does the work here: a deep wine red band, filled with gold rosettes and leafy palmettes, around an open ivory field.

Folio 7 / 9

f. 24III

Kohl Palmette

Kohl black with a plum undertone, crossed by long grey-green vines that loop into spirals.

Folio 8 / 9

f. 25III

Genda Palmette

At the centre, a single gold rosette opens like a genda, the marigold strung in Indian garlands, and the whole field is arranged around it in mirror symmetry.

Folio 9 / 9