The Best Workmanship, the Finest Materials: Prayer Carpets of the Islamic World

With a distinctive design and relatively uniform size, the prayer carpet (sajjāda in Arabic) ranks as one of the most recognizable and popular forms of weaving from Muslim lands. This exhibition brings together prayer carpets from the eastern Islamic world and considers them from two perspectives: the structural design dictated by the weaver’s technique, and the decorative design governed by iconographic and aesthetic traditions.

From documentary evidence stretching back to the eleventh century, it is clear that artisans used only their best workmanship and finest materials to create prayer carpets. These carpets, mostly small enough to be easily carried when rolled, not only fulfilled the quotidian need for a clean space to pray, but also represented proximity to God, where “his faithful servant has set foot to worship.” A prayer carpet could also serve as a seat of honor or a spiritual throne, used by a leader to emphasize his legitimacy to rule. The flying carpets of legend derived from the sajjādas used by mystics.

Drawn mainly from the Harvard University Art Museums collection, the rugs in the exhibition date to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and represent a fine range of both technique and design. Together, they suggest the variety of aesthetic experiences possible within a single medium and type.

Organized by Amanda H. Phillips, curatorial intern, Department of Islamic and Later Indian Art, and Mary McWilliams, Norma Jean Calderwood Curator of Islamic and Later Indian Art, Arthur M. Sackler Museum.

This exhibition has been generously supported by Melvin R. Seiden and the Arthur Urbane Dilley, 1897, and Theron Johnson Damon, 1905, Fund for Islamic Art and Culture.