Prayer and Transcendence

SUPPORT FOR THIS EXHIBITION AND RELATED PROGRAMMING IS PROVIDED BY THE FOLLOWING

The Bruce P. and Olive W. Baganz Fund for The Textile Museum Exhibitions and Publications

The David Berg Foundation

E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation

The Markarian Foundation

Tina M. deVries

Helen K. King

Mary Jo Otsea and Richard H. Brown

Roger and Claire Pratt David M. Sloan

LENDERS TO THE EXHIBITION

Cincinnati Art Museum

Harvard Art Museums

The Markarian Foundation

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

THE STRAIGHT PATH

Imagery of an arch, flowers and a mosque lamp transforms a prayer carpet from a simple textile into the embodiment of a sacred space, forging a link between the earthly and transcendental realms. It enables worshippers to commune with God and helps grant them access to Paradise.

Muslim communities have strong ties with one another — nurtured by trade, as well as religious duties, most importantly the “hajj” (pilgrimage). As portable objects, prayer carpets have facilitated the development of a collective iconography. Muslims around the world recognize this iconography and its visual organization on the carpet, in spite of great cultural and artistic differences and changes across time. Mughal Indian prayer carpets, therefore, look very different from those made in Ottoman Türkiye, although they share similar visual elements, such as an arch and floral designs.

Arguably, there is an underlying logic for the shared design vocabulary of a prayer carpet. This common iconography provides a visual link among Muslim communities and supports comprehensive and transferrable religious communication.

ABOVE “Saf” (multiple-arch prayer carpet); India, Deccan plateau, Warangal; late 18th century. Cotton, wool; knotted pile, asymmetrical knot open to left; 616 x 138 cm.

The Textile Museum Collection R63.00.15. Acquired by George Hewitt Myers in 1950.

COVER IMAGE Prayer carpet; Türkiye, western Anatolia, Uşak; 1700-1725. Wool; knotted pile, symmetrical knot; 178 x 117 cm.

The Textile Museum Collection R34.22.1. Acquired by George Hewitt Myers in 1925.

HEAVENLY THRESHOLD

The most iconic image in a prayer carpet is the directional arch. The origin of this motif is an ongoing discussion among scholars. It might have been inspired by the “mihrab,” a niche in the wall of the mosque that indicates the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca, which believers face when praying. The niche can also be seen as the gateway to Paradise, open to believers with good moral standing.

In the Koran, Paradise is conceived as a lush walled garden with an arched gateway, a motif that became a powerful image in Islamic art. Prayer carpets frequently depict floral and vegetal decorations surrounding an arch, which are interpreted as metaphors for Paradise.

Prayer carpet; Central Asia, Middle Amu Darya area, Bukhara region; 19th century. Wool; knotted pile, asymmetrical knot open to right; 194 x 104 cm. The Textile Museum Collection 1968.18.2. Bequest of Arthur J. Arwine.

DIVINE LIGHT

Beyond the arch and floral decorations, prayer carpets often include other distinct earthly images imbued with transcendental meaning. Two of these design elements, a lamp and water pitcher, relate directly to Islamic prayer.

In the mosque, the divine presence is symbolized by the hanging lamp — a powerful image invoked by the “sura” (chapter) called “Nur” (light) in the Koran (24:35). Divine light is not solely an Islamic concept; it is shared with other religions and even pre-Islamic belief systems. In particular, the artistic representation of the lamp is very similar in Islamic prayer carpets and Jewish Torah Ark curtains.

Around the world, water also plays a central role in religious practice, cleansing both body and spirit, and helping to define the community. In Islam, worshippers need to perform ablution before they pray. Worshippers entering the courtyard of a mosque are frequently greeted with large fountains. When there is no fountain nearby, a small pitcher is used for ablution. Hence, it is not surprising to see water pitchers represented as design elements on prayer carpets.

LEFT Torah Ark curtain; Ottoman Empire, Cairo, Egypt, or Türkiye, Istanbul; 1600-1625. Wool; knotted pile, asymmetrical knot open to left; 187 x 156 cm. The Textile Museum Collection R16.4.4. Acquired by George Hewitt Myers in 1915.

RIGHT + INSIDE FLAP Prayer carpet; Ottoman Empire, Türkiye, Istanbul or Egypt, Cairo; 17th century. Wool; knotted pile, asymmetrical knot open to left; 183 x 129 cm. The Textile Museum Collection 1967.24.1. Museum purchase.

Sumru Belger Krody, Senior Curator, The Textile Museum Collection

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