NORTH CHINA, LATE 17TH/EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Early Ningxia carpets are regarded as the classical carpets of China. Although they appear in 13th century Mongol paintings, Chinese wool carpets do not belong originally to the Chinese art of that period but to the culture of the outer Mongolian and Muslim provinces. This changed by the end of the 17th century when the Chinese Empire was extended by the Emperor Kangxi. He was fascinated by the carpets woven in Ningxia, and by the turn of the 17th/18th century a Chinese style of wool carpets assimilating Chinese art and culture had begun to develop (Michael Franses, "Early Ninghsia Carpets", Hali, vol.5, no.2, 1982, p.133 and 144).

The rhythm and finesse of the drawing as well as the softness of the colour in the present runner are similar to those of a contemporaneous example in the Victoria & Albert Museum (Donald King, "Chinese Carpets in the Victoria & Albert Museum. The History of the Collection", Hali, vol.5, no.2, 1982, p.145). Another yellow ground runner with an overall field of ascending chrysanthemum but which lacked all of its borders, was part of the collection of Erik Risman, offered in these Rooms, 5 April 2011, lot 241.