A PARADISE CARPET 149 



The design of this marvellous carpet, devised 

 as far back as the times of the Assyrian Kingdom, 

 prevailed down to the days of Shah Abbas and 

 Shah Jahan. Since then these royal " Firdus " 

 carpets have nearly all disappeared ; only five are 

 now known to exist, and of these only the one 

 illustrated is in any sense perfect. But the Shali- 

 mar Bagh at Lahore remains a concrete example 

 of the Paradise garden from which their design 

 was drawn. 



Shah Abbas's carpet is an oblong, thirty- one 

 feet by twelve feet three inches. The characteristic 

 canals, the special feature of the type, are unequal 

 in length, but their form is only a modification 

 of the older cosmic cross. The central pavilion 

 is very small, little more than a chabutra 

 or fountain basin set in the middle of a large 

 tank. Four birds swim on the pond, a curious 

 mixture of swan and royal peacock; and the 

 water is represented as of a deeper blue than 

 that of the canals, suggesting a greater depth; 

 or else that the reservoir was paved after the 

 Persian fashion with bright blue tiles. The design 

 is further subdivided by narrow watercourses 

 and octagonal pavilions, four on each side, 

 representing the eight pearl pavilions of the 



