Field of Flowers: Mughal Carpets and Treasures

Michael Schuster, PhD will be discussing the exhibition Field of Flowers: Mughal Carpets and Treasures. The exhibiton focuses on a rare pair oflarge carpets on from the collection at Shangri La.. Each carpet has anarched interior with pointed ends. When paired, the carpets form a bold field of flowers with an interior void wherein a person, most likely a royal personage, could have sat in splendor. In mid-17th century Mughal India, the taste for naturalistic floral sprays reached an apogee of artistic expression. The aesthetic style seen in the carpets and other art forms of the period dominated the arts of south Asia from the 17th century to the present and has had an impact on aesthetic traditions of the West and China