EAST TURKESTAN, LATE 18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Usually found in single format, the present lot is unusual in that it appears to be two throne covers that have been woven together along the central vertical axis. The central panels would rest on the seat, the lower floral spray would cover the throne base and the light blue floral roundel flanked above and below by chrysanthemum would cover the back rest. Similar arrangements are known in Chinese rugs and also, rarely, in Tibetan rugs (Murray L Eiland, Chinese and Exotic Rugs, Boston, 1979, pls.28, 29, pp.48 and 49 and col.pl.29). A similar but vibrant yellow silk Yarkand throne cover but with only two definite de-lineated panels, was sold in these Rooms, 25 April 2002, lot 51. A further closely related example with a pale blue field with similar motifs is published by Eberhart Herrman, Seltene Orientteppiche (II), von Ushak bis Yarkand, Munich, 1980, no.109, p.159. One Khotan rug in the Textile Museum, Washington must have been woven for a similarly precise function, although in that case the use is not so clear (Ulrich Schurmann, Central Asian Rugs, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1969, no.91, p.167).