The production of antique Indian carpets and rugs in any quantity dates from the Mughal period of the late 1520s. Beginning with the conquest of Northern India by Babur, weaving workshops developed around the imperial cities of Agra, Fathpur and Lahore. Akbar the Great (1556-1605) and his successors sponsored and encouraged the weaving of splendid Indian versions of classic Persian floral, garden and hunting rugs and carpets. As an eminent patron of the arts, Jahangir (reigning from 1605-1628), possessed a deep love for the beauty of nature, influencing the artists of his court. Unlike antique Agra carpets manufactured in the prisons of India, antique North Indian rugs were products of a cottage industry controlled by families of carpet weavers. With a knotted pile of the softest pashmina wool, the antique North Indian carpets originated and perfected by these weaving families, have to this day, rarely been equaled.