Details
A RARE SILK AND METALLIC THREAD CARPET
19TH CENTURY
The central field is woven with two dragons confronting a flaming pearl enclosed within a shaped reserve surrounded by four further dragons at the corners, within floral and decorative borders, all on a metallic ground. There is a five-character mark reading Qianqing Gong Yuyong (for use in the Palace of Heavenly Purity) in a line along the top.
51 x 85 in. (129.5 x 215.9 cm.)
Provenance
Christie's New York, 3 December 1992, lot 156.
Property from the Lai Family Collection.

Lot Essay

The Qianqing Gong, or 'Palace of Heavenly Purity', the first of the Three Rear Halls, formerly contained the sleeping chambers of Ming emperors. During the Qing dynasty, however, emperors began to manage state affairs from the Qianqing Gong. The Palace was eventually turned into a formal living room and offices where emperors summoned subordinates for consultation, received foreign envoys, as well as gave banquets for family members, relatives and high officials (see Wan-go Weng and Yang Boda, The Palace Museum: Peking, Treasures of the Forbidden City, 1982, p. 50). It is uncertain whether or not this carpet was ever used in the Palace, but if it were, carpets inevitably would have been replaced at regular intervals.

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