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Indian
Indian
designs were strongly influenced by those of Iran, mainly
by the curvilinear styles such as Esfahan. Popular designs
of the 18th and 19th century, which Indo-mir is still a remaining
example of, were mainly in the all-over layout with very small
floral motifs such as plants, palmettes, rosettes and leaves.
Often the same motif was repeated through the entire rug.
Borders were very similar to the motifs in the field. There
was not much color contrast in the rugs; the colors were mostly
well coordinated to suit the Western taste. Brownish red was
the dominant color. In addition to this color, light and dark
green and burnt orange were also popular. Indian rugs missed
the period of Aniline dyes which faded rapidly with exposure to light and water. Colorfast Chrome dyes directly replaced
natural dyes.
In
addition to the Indian designs derived from Persian styles,
many rugs of this period were direct copies of Persian styles.
In
the present day, in addition to Persian styles, European (Aubusson
and Savonnerie designs), Chinese, and Turkoman styles are
also copied by Indian weavers, especially since the middle
of the 20th century. Indian rugs are mostly made in workshops;
occasionally they are made in villages.
Some
names associated with Indian rugs are Jaipur, Agra, Kashmir,
Dhurries and Indo-mir. The first three
refer to places in India where traditional Indian styles, Persian, European, Chinese
and Turkoman styles are made. Dhurries are Indian flat-weaves
with designs similar to those of Native American Navajos,
which were very popular in the West about fifteen years ago,
and Indo-mirs are Indian rugs with an all-over design called
mir-i-boteh, which has multiple rows of horizontal, vertical,
and diagonal small botehs.
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