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Lot Essay
The stylised pomegranate tree design is well documented as symbolising fertility within East Turkestan carpets, and can be traced within this region as far back as 2000 years. This same design appears on a series of early (105 AD) wood carvings which were excavated from the ruins of Niya, once a major commercial center on the Silk Road on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin, China. It also appears frequently in religious Christian works as well as Oriental textiles, (Hans Bidder, Carpets from Eastern Turkestan, Tubingen, 1979, pp.49-53).
Sometimes drawn with a single vase, the present carpet has a mirrored design displaying two vases at either end, each issuing an ascending tree hung with ripe pomegranates. The present example has an additional broad outer border filled with the early Turkish 'cloud head' motif or "Yun Tsai T'ou" in Chinese. It wasn't until the infiltration of Indian-Buddhist teachings into Turkestan however that the overly simple treatment of this motif was transformed into a vibrant multi-coloured symbol. Sliced through with layers of colour one can see a strong resemblance to the multi-coloured iconography and depiction of clouds, mountains and water within Indian paintings, (Bidder, op.cit., pp.64-8). A closely related example with the same field design and rich colours, but without the "Yun sai T'ou" border, is illustrated in Bidder, ibid., pl.1. A smaller rug, which has the 'cloud head' border but only a single pomegranate-vase in the field was sold in these Rooms, 14 October 2004, lot 28.
Sometimes drawn with a single vase, the present carpet has a mirrored design displaying two vases at either end, each issuing an ascending tree hung with ripe pomegranates. The present example has an additional broad outer border filled with the early Turkish 'cloud head' motif or "Yun Tsai T'ou" in Chinese. It wasn't until the infiltration of Indian-Buddhist teachings into Turkestan however that the overly simple treatment of this motif was transformed into a vibrant multi-coloured symbol. Sliced through with layers of colour one can see a strong resemblance to the multi-coloured iconography and depiction of clouds, mountains and water within Indian paintings, (Bidder, op.cit., pp.64-8). A closely related example with the same field design and rich colours, but without the "Yun sai T'ou" border, is illustrated in Bidder, ibid., pl.1. A smaller rug, which has the 'cloud head' border but only a single pomegranate-vase in the field was sold in these Rooms, 14 October 2004, lot 28.