Among the most beautiful and precious textiles in the world, carpets fromIslamic lands have been treasured for centuries. Prized by European monarchsand traded as far afield as Tibet and the Americas, these woven and knottedmasterpieces are both distinguished works of art and revealing utilitarianobjects that offer a glimpse of life in the Islamic world.The third volume in Thames & Hudson's series cataloguing the al-SabahCollection, this book features some of the finest classical carpets from thesixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, along with several intriguing pre-Islamic carpet fragments. Carpet and textile expert Friedrich Spuhlerdescribes the spectacular al-Sabah Collection in the context of the historyof Islamic art and recounts the stories behind individual carpets.The book includes pictures of many carpets never before reproducedin print, as well as a few that may have been lost forever following the Iraqiinvasion of Kuwait in 1990.