In this special issue of Konsthistorisk tidskrift some implications of reconsidering the so-called carpet paradigm are persued. This can provide for new angles not only when it comes to research on the Oriental carpet and work on the carpet as motif and medium but also for demonstrating in a further sense how the carpet – and research on it – can be used as a model to understand art and art histories. The American art historian Joseph Masheck introduced this term in his influential article ‘The Carpet Paradigm" (1976). Here it includes analysing the carpet as motif as well as medium. It investigates how the carpet functions as a model for a better understanding of the image in general. Of special importance is the fact that the carpet paradigm forms a crossroads for research on images, textiles, literature, decorative arts, iconography, gender, ornament and cultural transfers–to name but a few. The lines of investigation are interconnecting.