Prayer rugs are used by Muslim worshipers when they kneel during prayer. The designs of these rugs typically feature an arch, modeled after the prayer niches in mosques that face the holy city of Mecca. Open hands are the Islamic symbol of protection.

Prayer rugs with blue major fields are very rare, and this rug is one of the finest and rarest in the Boucher collection.

This rug is a fine example of the classic weavings of the Baluchis, an ancient, once nomadic people of western and central Asia known for their intricately patterned textiles in soft, silky wool. It is one of more than seventy works comprising the Colonel Jeff W. Boucher Collection, one of the world's leading groups of Baluchi rugs, given to the IMA in 1996.

This kind of weaving is commonly known as a "prayer rug," because it features the design of a mihrab, the niche found in mosques that faces in the direction of the holy city of Mecca. The central area contains three stylized flowering Trees of Life, a distinct departure from the single tree that appears on most rugs of this type. Baluchi prayer rugs with large blue fields are relatively rare, and the indigo shades of this example are softer than the usual "dark Baluch" look. The luminosity of the field and the intensity of the dye in the borders result in a contrasting spatial quality, creating an illusion of three dimensions in which the arch almost becomes a doorway into another realm-a subtle allusion to paradise.

The open hands in the top corners are also unusual. Hands are Islamic symbols of protection, and raised open palms during prayer are a sign of piety. At 154 knots per square inch-a high knot count for a Baluchi weaving-this rug is among the finest and rarest of its kind.

Departed, like the sultans, from this Caravanserai of Life, are the weavers of [these] rugs . . . gone with them are the knowledge and skill which enabled the peasant and the nomad to produce such masterpieces of tribal art.
-Colonel Jeff W. Boucher, 1989