PROBABLY BEIJING, NORTH WEST CHINA, LATE QING DYNASTY

Details

AN IMPERIAL SILK AND METAL-THREAD RUG
PROBABLY BEIJING, NORTH WEST CHINA, LATE QING DYNASTY
Overall very good condition
8ft.2in. x 5ft.3in. (249cm. x 160cm.)

Provenance

Reputedly bought in Hong Kong by a member of the owner's family in the 1930's, thence by descent.

Special notice

This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends. This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Behnaz Atighi Moghaddam Head of Sale

batighi@christies.com +44 20 7389 2509

Lot Essay

The Chinese five-character inscription reads; Taihe dian bei yong - the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

This carpet is one of a group of so-called ‘palace’ carpets supposedly woven for the palaces of Beijing’s Forbidden City during the Qing dynasty. The Hall of Supreme Harmony, or throne hall, the first and most important of the Three Front Halls in the Forbidden City Complex, was used for observing various rites including celebrating New Year's Day, the Winter Solstice, the emperor's birthday and the imperial wedding ceremony, as well as issuing proclamations of war and peace and other major rites of state, (see Wan-go Weng and Yang Boda, The Palace Museum: Peking, Treasures of the Forbidden City, 1982, pp. 41-44). Other examples woven with the same inscription have sold at Christie's New York, 2 December 1998, lot 131; Christie's New York, 22 March 1999, lot 105; Christie's Hong Kong, 30 May 2006, lot 1285 and Christie's New York, 22 March 2018, lot 961.

The elegant field design displaying mirrored pavilions flanked by swooping cranes and a partially submerged sea dragon within each spandrel is particularly close to another ‘palace’ carpet currently exhibited in Kulun – The Elixir Carpets at the Museo Schneiberg, Turin, illustrated in HALI, no. 206, winter 2020, p.107. A rug of comparable design sold in these Rooms, 1 April 2021, lot 145. Two further, slightly larger, carpets of comparable design were sold at Sotheby’s London, 5 November 2008, lot 174 and 9 November 2011, lot 133.

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