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Rug weaving was introduced to India during the sixteenth century at the time of the Moghul Emperor Akbar. Indian workshops prospered about the same time as the royal Persian rug manufacturers of the Safavid Dynasty in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Many of the workshops were under the supervision of Iranian weavers.
Consequently, Indian rugs are strongly influenced by those of Iran, mainly by the curvilinear styles such as Esfahan. 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 rugs and Persian, European, Chinese and Turkoman rug 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.
Jaipur rugs originated in the city of Jaipur, located in the beautiful state of Rajasthan in India. Jaipur was a prosperous city, considered by urbanists to be one of the best planned cities, built in the form of a nine part 'Mandala', by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. Like most of Rajasthan state, Jaipur is rich in arts and culture. Silk and woolen carpet production are one of its main industries. Jaipur rugs are mostly floral with geometric designs.
For a complete look at the hundreds of area rugs in our full inventory of over 20,000, please visit eRugGallery.com.
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