Border of a velvet floorspreadA long border of velvet flowers against a woven silver background, cut voided satin velvet.This elegant strip of woven silk velvet and silver-wrapped thread is a border from a large floorspread. The design is a classic Mughal one of flowering plants - depicted remarkably realistically - within floral meander borders. The field of the original floorspread would probably have been plain. The extreme fineness of the weaving and the lavishness of the materials used suggests that it was made for the Mughal court, either in the period of Shah Jahan or early in the reign of his successor Aurangzeb.FLOWER BORDER
Naturalistic flowers like the ones on this floor-spread border were popular under the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (ruled 1628-58). They appeared in all media, from architecture to manuscript decoration. On textile furnishings, they evoked the pleasures of a garden indoors. The style of the lilies and other flowers is largely derived from European botanical illustrations.
Silk velvet with silver-wrapped thread
Possibly Ahmedabad, Gujarat, 1640-50
V&A: 320-1898 [03/10/2015-10/01/2016]