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Lot Essay
This fragment is part of the largest known Ming carpet outside of China, the iconic Tiffany Palace Carpet which has long been admired by carpet collectors and academics alike for its intrinsic beauty, remarkable condition and illustrious provenance. The Manchu Empress Dowager Cixi (1835 - 1906) reputedly used this historical carpet in her palace. After the Boxer Rebellion was crushed in 1900 and parts of the "Forbidden City" were plundered by allied troops, many palace carpets found their way out of the country. Acquired by Louis C. Tiffany through his agent in Beijing, the carpet, measuring 9.68 x 9.99 meters at the time, arrived in New York in 1906 and was auctioned off in 1916 in New York at the American Art Association. Over the course of time with different owners, its width was reduced several times, and now measures 7.20 x 9.99 meters. At least seventeen, mostly small-format, fragments are known. In the 2005 Cologne exhibition, the "Tiffany" carpet is shown in its present condition (fig. 25, p. 27), alongside two fragments from the border and the field (cat. no.9, p.69).
In his book, Classical Chinese Carpets in Western Collections: The Kangxi Period, 1661-1772 (London, 2002, p.12), Michael Franses places the Tiffany Palace Carpet within an important transitional group from the late Ming period that links the Imperial Wanli carpets with those made during the reign of the Kangxi. The Wanli type carpets, likely woven in an Imperial workshop in Beijing, have a distinctive weave with a thick pile knotted on silk warps (see HALI 173, M. Franses, “The Forgotten Carpets of the Forbidden Palace”, pp. 75-85 for examples), while those woven during the Kangxi period are thinner, with a looser weave, and are attributed to the western region of Ningxia (see The Maria Theresa L. Virata Collection, Christie’s New York, 16 March 2017, lot 637). The Tiffany Palace Carpet falls somewhere in between: its pile is thicker than the Ningxia type but thinner than Wanli examples and woven on a cotton foundation with delicate designs.
The 'Tiffany' Imperial palace carpet was sold in Christie's New York, 14 October 2020, lot 20. Smaller known fragments of that carpet include one displaying four peonies, with Alberto Levi Gallery, Milan; another which sold at Edelmann's, New York, displaying two columns of seven peonies (6ft.8in. x 3ft. 3in.) and a diminutive fragment of two peony flowers which sold at Rippon Boswell, 25 May 2019, lot 138.
In his book, Classical Chinese Carpets in Western Collections: The Kangxi Period, 1661-1772 (London, 2002, p.12), Michael Franses places the Tiffany Palace Carpet within an important transitional group from the late Ming period that links the Imperial Wanli carpets with those made during the reign of the Kangxi. The Wanli type carpets, likely woven in an Imperial workshop in Beijing, have a distinctive weave with a thick pile knotted on silk warps (see HALI 173, M. Franses, “The Forgotten Carpets of the Forbidden Palace”, pp. 75-85 for examples), while those woven during the Kangxi period are thinner, with a looser weave, and are attributed to the western region of Ningxia (see The Maria Theresa L. Virata Collection, Christie’s New York, 16 March 2017, lot 637). The Tiffany Palace Carpet falls somewhere in between: its pile is thicker than the Ningxia type but thinner than Wanli examples and woven on a cotton foundation with delicate designs.
The 'Tiffany' Imperial palace carpet was sold in Christie's New York, 14 October 2020, lot 20. Smaller known fragments of that carpet include one displaying four peonies, with Alberto Levi Gallery, Milan; another which sold at Edelmann's, New York, displaying two columns of seven peonies (6ft.8in. x 3ft. 3in.) and a diminutive fragment of two peony flowers which sold at Rippon Boswell, 25 May 2019, lot 138.