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Preeti Mehra

A private collection of carpets at Carpet Cellar in New Delhi is worth the viewing for craft lovers and worth the buy for carpet connoisseurs.

This is one product that speaks to its buyers. It's warp, weft, motifs, designs, colour combinations, raw material and styles of knotting tell you the story of its history, geography, tradition and even, religion. It speaks about the people who spent days and nights of toil creating a unique masterpiece, sometimes for themselves, sometimes for the ruler and now, for the consumer.

Yes, each carpet tells its own story. So does the craft of carpet weaving. Started as a nomadic craft centuries ago, carpets have now reached the mechanised era and are machine made in factories across the world. However, the original craft created by master weavers still lives on and is cherished for its unique handwork and antique value.

Invaluable for craft lovers, one such private collection at Carpet Cellar in New Delhi is worth the viewing. And, of course, worth the buying for carpet connoisseurs. Selected over three decades for their uniqueness in design and history by Sheel Chandra, the private collection represents work from the length and breath of the oriental carpet-making world. Carpet Celler has on sale masterpieces from Mongolia, Persia, Tibet, Turkey, Mesopotamia, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Egypt, Morocco and India.

Chandra has, of course, kept away his very favourites and offers the rest through the store. In fact, his collection is often borrowed for exhibitions by leading museums around the world, for some of the rugs are so rare and so exquisite, in vegetable dye colours that it seems a pity that they are up for sale. From the typical Persian floral pattern, the collection has carpets that are woven as gardens or scenes of spring. Others depict hunting scenes, animal motifs, geometrical and lattice designs, a large number of them originals and over half-a-century old.

The tribal collections from Afghanistan and Baluchistan include rugs, kilms, tent decorations, salt bags and saddlebags. Unique in every sense of the word, these items were woven for several different reasons. From the simple need to cover the tent to be given as dowry or traded or as mats for prayer, these tribal weaves have a hardy base and a unique texture.

Of late, Carpet Celler has started its own series of hand-woven carpets that are reproductions of the famous Jail Carpets series of the Mughal Era.

Going back in history, it was Emperor Akbar who brought Persian weavers to India to train political prisoners lodged in jails in Agra, Jaipur, Bikaner, Gwalior etc. in the art of carpet weaving. What they produced were world masterpieces, which were used in the royal palaces. Carpet Celler now reproduces this Mughal series, drawing inspiration from 16th and 17th-century designs, but using contemporary colour schemes. For these superfine wool is imported from New Zealand and for some vegetable dye is used.

They also create a contemporary design range titled Gabbeh in pastel hues and graphic patterns for the European market. Besides this, Carpet Cellar houses the old carpet school range of the well known English Company Michell & Sons, that had done a lot of work with carpet weavers in Kashmir at the turn of the century. So, whatever the origin or style of carpet, at this specialised studio, it's carpets galore!

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