Primary Source
Islamic Carpet made in Ottoman Turkey at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Annotation
This carpet is a specific type of carpet woven in the Islamic world called a sajjadah or prayer rug. Typically, these carpets will have one or more arches decorating its center field representing early mosque architecture or the mihrab a niche in a wall that directs the worshipper towards the holy site of Mecca. Worshippers use these types of rugs to make their daily prayers and orient themselves in the direction of prayer. This particular rug was made in early eighteenth century in Ottoman Turkey and is currently in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection. For more details, please visit the Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of History.
This source is a part of the Early Modern Islamic Carpets as Transcultural Objects teaching module.