NORTH CHINA, CIRCA 1900

The border design of the present carpet comprises a series of cartouche panels each filled with one of the Chinese 'Hundred Antique' motifs. Originally the symbols were seen as a visible manifestation of Confucianism which was developed by the Chinese philosopher, Confucius, (551–479 BCE) and which later became known as the 'Hundred Schools of Thought'. By the second half of the eighteenth century, and certainly by the nineteenth century, the individual motifs became increasingly reduced in scale, their philosophical importance having become less important. A version of the present border can be found on a carpet in L. Larsson, Carpets from China, Xinjiang & Tibet, London, 1988, p.32, fig. 27.