. . "This prayer mat is made from three layers of quilted fabric: a light blue silk and cotton satin backed with a printed cotton, which was faced with black cotton, and then padded with a layer of woollen fibres. The split stitch embroidery was worked through all three layers. It is not essential to add a decorative backing to embroideries but in this example the extra thickness increases the durability of mat and conceals the inevitable loose embroidery threads. The design printed on the backing is a popular motif based on the 'boteh', a Persian word for a flowering shrub. It was an important element in Persian textile design in the19th century and, with great skill, textile designers were able to create many different effects within the limits imposed by its rather rigid, curving form.\n\nThe prayer mat was acquired from the private collection of Jules Richard (1816-1891), a Frenchman living in Iran. He arrived in Tehran in 1844 as a language teacher, and converted to Islam, taking the name Mirza Riza. He was probably the first photographer in Iran and was the interpreter for the Shah, Nasir al-Din, on his visit to Europe in 1873."@en . .