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Silk on Cotton
Hunting
Leopards and deer in a forest
Carpet design · Silk Carpets
Hunting (Shikargah)
The royal hunting ground — the shikargah — was a favourite subject of the Mughal and Safavid courts, and the hunting carpet remains the most animated of all classical designs. Leopards chase deer, falcons stoop, riders draw their bows, and every space between is filled with flowering trees.
Reading a hunting carpet
Unlike a medallion carpet, a shikargah tells a story across its whole field. The animals are drawn in motion, often in pairs of hunter and hunted, and the composition rewards looking closely: a hare beneath a shrub, a bird on a branch, a rider's face turned toward you.
At 576 knots per square inch the weaver can render individual leaves and the spots of a leopard's coat — which is why our pictorial carpets are woven in silk on silk or fine silk on cotton.
As a runner, or on the wall
Laid along a gallery or corridor, a hunting runner tells its story as you walk beside it. Hung above a console, or at the end of a hall, it becomes a painting in silk.
Questions
What is a shikargah carpet?
Shikargah means hunting ground. A shikargah, or hunting carpet, is a pictorial design showing animals, hunters and riders among trees and flowers, in the tradition of the royal hunts of the Mughal and Persian courts.
Pieces in this design
Hunting (Shikargah), made by hand
Prices on request. Every piece can be commissioned in your own size and palette.
Bespoke
Hunting (Shikargah), to your own measure
Choose the size, the palette and the density of the work. Our naqash draws the design for your approval before a single knot is tied, a stitch made or a brush lifted.
