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Lot Essay
Small square sitting mats from East Turkestan rarely appear on the market and have long been coveted collector’s pieces. The present cover is one of a small group of individual square mats whose designs vary from most other East Turkestan rugs. In his article 'Happy Squares', Hans König attempts to set straight the various classifications for this group that were woven in the various towns within the Tarim Basin. Apart from a small number that he identifies as having been woven on an entirely silk structure, König classifies all Khotan, Kashgar and Yarkand mats as being woven on a cotton warp with three weft shoots.
Using the same palette as other weavings from the area, their designs are clearly derived from earlier Chinese Ming brocades and silk textiles but also echo Chinese porcelain decoration of the early Ch'ing period. On the present rug, the delicate Precious Image flowers that fill the field, appear in majestic scale on earlier Ming carpets, which also favoured depictions of the Lotus flower due to its association with Buddhist ideology. Here the drawing of interlaced stems appears much more fluid than the more frequently seen geometric designs. An almost identical designed square, set on a deep blue ground with pale yellow flowers, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, No.17125, (M.S. Dimand and Jean Mailey, Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1973, fig.280.) Both that mat and the present lot, have an unusual piled panel woven on all four sides which is connected by a narrow strip of un-piled foundation which allows the panel to hang down on all four sides, much like a pelmet. In addition, each corner has a small square void which perhaps was left in order to better fit around or over a piece of furniture.
Using the same palette as other weavings from the area, their designs are clearly derived from earlier Chinese Ming brocades and silk textiles but also echo Chinese porcelain decoration of the early Ch'ing period. On the present rug, the delicate Precious Image flowers that fill the field, appear in majestic scale on earlier Ming carpets, which also favoured depictions of the Lotus flower due to its association with Buddhist ideology. Here the drawing of interlaced stems appears much more fluid than the more frequently seen geometric designs. An almost identical designed square, set on a deep blue ground with pale yellow flowers, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, No.17125, (M.S. Dimand and Jean Mailey, Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1973, fig.280.) Both that mat and the present lot, have an unusual piled panel woven on all four sides which is connected by a narrow strip of un-piled foundation which allows the panel to hang down on all four sides, much like a pelmet. In addition, each corner has a small square void which perhaps was left in order to better fit around or over a piece of furniture.