NORTH CHINA, CIRCA 1880

The central field of this rug is filled with a greater proportion of silvered metal-thread than most and the thickly curled leaves that surround the radiating floral centre piece are also most unusual. The panelled border contains various Buddhist emblems such as; the infinite knot, the conch-shell, the lotus flower and the wheel of law, all of which are seperated with alternating diaper-patterned panels containing stylised foral motifs. This same border design with a heavily metalled field is seen on another rug, formerly in the collection of the Late Baron George de Menasce, London, and which was part of a loan exhibition to The Duke Univiersity Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina, (Exhibition catalogue, Imperial Carpets from Peking', Pittsburgh, 1973. That rug is centred by a seated Buddha woven in silk pile but which also bears an inscription in its upper kilim stating that it was woven for the Imperial Palace in Beijing. It is quite possible that the present rug once bore an inscription but sadly the kilims at both ends of this rug are lacking.