CHINA, SECOND HALF 18TH CENTURY

Some Chinese carpets with 'lion-dog' designs can be attributed as early as the early seventeenth century. The early examples are clearly drawn and display the fierce and protective nature of these stylised beasts. In Chinese art the lion represents important qualities such as power, authority and guardians against evil. This beast later developed features of the Pekinese dog, popular as pets in palaces, they were deliberately bred to reproduce the imaginative characteristics of the semi-mythological lion. (König, H; Franses, M; Lie The, H; Dickensen, G .: Lion-dogs, Hundred Antiques, Classical Chinese Carpets I, London, 2000, pp.19-23). Later examples such as the one offered here are more stylised and have lost the fierce expression. The colour of the field and inner key-pattern border here is similar to The Andonian 'lion-dog' 'medallion and birds' carpet which has been attributed to the second half of the eighteenth century (König, H; Franses, M; Lie The, H, Dickensen, G ;: op.cit.,pl.14). The border of this carpet displays a variety of symbols all of which have symbolic connotations. The symbols may be divided into religious and philosophical categories depending on whether they refer to Buddhist, Taoist, or other concepts. For a decsription of the symbols see Eiland Murray L., Chinese and Exotic Rugs, New York, 1979, pp.29-31; also König, H; Franses, M; Lie The, H; Dickensen, G;: op.cit., pp.57-61.