The Pearl Carpet of Baroda

This splendid carpet has a surface that is entirely embellished, created using an estimated two million natural seed pearls, known as “Basra” pearls originally collected in the waters of the Gulf. The design is picked out in coloured glass beads and the whole richly encrusted and embellished with gold set diamonds and precious stones in their hundreds. The design of the work echoes many of the details found in Safavid and Mughal carpet designs with dense fields of swirling flowering vines that here form a deconstructed series of three Mughal-style arches. Whilst this commission appears to have been unique, parts of the design reflect 18th-century India’s fashionable millefleurs motif. Across the centre there are three large round ‘rosettes’ each made of table cut diamonds set in silvered gold. Further smaller diamond rosettes in the border, all of which are embellished with sapphires, rubies and emeralds set in gold.(http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Sothebys_To_Sell_the_Pearl_Carpet_of_Baroda.html)