Millefleur Gateway Carpets

Millefleur Rugs 

Millefleur Rugs take their name from the French; mille meaning 1000, and fleur meaning flowers.  The word is used to describe a floral pattern with many small flowers in the design. 

The McMullan Millefleur Gateway Carpet - Detail

The McMullan Millefleur Gateway Carpet

The McMullan Millefleur Gateway Carpet - Detail
Please note the multitude of blossoms and the bifurcated cypress on the right.

Many Mughal rugs are called Millefleur because of the small blossom patterns. However the most famous is a particular type of rug design of which the McMullan  Pashmina Millefleur Gateway Carpet is the best known:


McMullan Millefleur Gateway Carpets
Object Name: Pashmina Carpet with Gateway-and-Millefleur Pattern
Date: second half 18th century
Geography: Northern India, Kashmir
Medium: Cotton (warp and weft), pashmina wool (pile); asymmetrically knotted pile
Dimensions: Rug: H. 74 3/16 in. (188.5 cm) W. 47 11/16 in. (121.2 cm) Mount: H. 79 1/8 in. (201 cm) W. 51 1/4 in. (130.2 cm) D. 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm)
Classification: Textiles-Rugs
Credit Line: Gift of Joseph V. McMullan, 1970
Accession Number: 1970.302.7
The Gateway Millefleur Carpet design features a pair of cypress trees under an arch. This is seen as the gate to the Islamic afterlife a flower filled garden paradise.  Joe McMulan’s rug has a central vase which is not common to all of these. 

Lahore Indian rug 

Lahore Indian rug 

Here we see a later Lahore Indian rug in the Gateway Millefleur Carpet from Christie’s Sale 4941 European Furniture, Works of Arts, Tapestries And Carpets
17 January 2006, London, South Kensington

Qashqai Millefleur Gateway Rug Early 29th Century

Qashqai Millefleur Gateway Rug Early 29th Century

In the early 20th century the Millefleur Gateway Carpet pattern began to show up in Qashqai rugs.  My suspicion is that one of the Millefleur Gateway Carpets was published in an early German rug book which sparked the Lahore and Qashqai copies.