20th Century Wool Handmade Classic Rug Ethnic Design, circa 1900.

Samarkand rug, Kothan design with influences of Chinese rugs and of de ancient silk road, circa 1900. - We highlight the quality of the conservation of colors. - Colors in caramel to...

Handmade wool rug. Classic Design Garrus from city Tabriz. - Measures: 2.75 x 3.75 m. - Highlight the design of Garrus in the central field combined with curvilinear designs typica...

Classic design rug like from the city of Tabriz. Measures: 3.80 x 2.90 m - Excellent piece characterized by the use of interlocking vanes and rosettes throughout the central field. -...

Classic design rug like from the city of Tabriz. Measures: 3.75 x 2.75 m - Excellent piece characterized by the use of interlocking vanes and rosettes throughout the central field. -...

Rug of the Caucasus region of nomadic origin - Elaborated with a geometric design on an axis of three central diamonds that each one of them is different. - Handmade. - It style is c...

Agra rug from India, from a private collection in England at one of the most prestigious dealers in Europe. - Classic design with white background and borders on earth. The design is...

An antique East Turkestan Khotan gallery format carpet handmade during the turn of the 20th century. Measures: 7' 2" x 12' 10".

Early 20th century Indian Amritsar brown handmade wool rug Size: 11'5" × 14'5" (347 × 439 cm) An early 20th century Indian Amritsar antique carpet, having a camel and sand field of s...

A vintage Tibetan throw rug handmade during the mid-20th century. Measures: 2' 10" x 4' 8".

A vintage Tibetan throw rug handmade during the mid-20th century. Measures: 2' 1" x 5' 4".

A vintage Tibetan throw rug handmade during the mid-20th century. Measures: 3' 1" x 5' 8" Chinese Rugs & Carpet: The craft of the hand-knotted carpet in China, and the surrounding areas including Mongolia and Tibet, extends into the early centuries of the first millennium, C.E., but we really have a firm grasp only beginning in the later 16th century with large, very coarsely woven carpets, often depicting dragons, created for the Imperial Forbidden City palaces. Chinese carpets have always been commercial and there are no tribal groups responsible for any of the carpet weaving strains. When the Ming Dynasty fell in 1644, with no Imperial patrons, production moved to the city of Ningxia in north central China where several workshops turned out more finely woven pieces for the Mandarins of the administrative Ch’ing bureaucracy and well-to-do merchants. Ningxia was the major Chinese carpet center up through most of the 19th century, with first allover and then medallion designs on cotton foundations in medium weaves. Palettes were initially limited to yellows, dark blue and cream, but later widened to include reds, browns and even green. These antiques were the first Chinese carpets to be exported to the West and they fitted in well with the craze for Chinese blue-and-white porcelain in the second half of the 19th century. Ningxia also wove shaped and rectangular small rugs for saddle underlays, chair (“throne”) seats and shaped backs, pillar carpets...

A vintage American rag rug handmade during the mid-20th century. Measures: 3' 6" x 5' 8" North American rugs & carpets: North American has never developed a unified handmade rug tradition, but rather it is the unassimilated confluence of several. From Mexico comes the Saltillo serape wearing blanket, and this stimulates the Navajo and Rio Grande (Colorado) weavers, first as blankets, then as rugs. The thrifty habits of rural America gave rise to the New England (and Western Canadian) hooked rug types, while the farmers of the Midwest recycled their disused garments into braided and rag rugs. The closest to a real ongoing tradition are the Southwestern (New Mexican) Navajo rugs. By the 1860s the native tribes were weaving wearing blankets with wool from the Spanish churro sheep. These were in stripe design, with combinations of undyed wool with cochineal reds and indigo blues. The multi-phase “Chief’s Blankets” from the 1870s-80s are a natural outgrowth of these. Machine spun red wool from Germantown in Pennsylvania appeared in the 1870s with a bright red hitherto unobtainable. The weavers loved it and blankets appeared with bright reds, generally aniline, in “eye dazzler” patterns. Anglo traders established posts beginning in the 1890s. Navajo weavings were perfect accompaniments not only for Western-themed decors, but for East Coast apartments, only they needed to be thicker and more rug like to be truly accepted. The traders brought Caucasian and Turkish village rugs to copy, borders were introduced and central medallions devised. The weavers continued to create on vertical looms, with a shared warp (dovetailing) weft structure to avoid slits. The warps were cotton string. Sizes were generally scatters, but occasionally a special order came in, hence antique room size Navajos are very rare and very pricey. Distinct village/pueblo styles developed. Among the best are: Two Grey Hills (considered the tightest, closest of all Navajo weaving), Crystal Springs, and Ganado. Certain new patterns such as the “Storm pattern” with jagged lightning bolts emanating from a dark cloud developed. The Yei rug with dancing Kachina doll figures became popular. The palette has been expanded beyond the classic grey, tan, dark brown, and cream natural wool combination to again include reds, blues, and greens. Navajo pictorials include American flags, trains, and automobiles, domestic and local scenes and scenery. Individual artist weavers now command gallery shows and correspondingly elevated prices. There are several levels of Navajo work, and antique and vintage scatters with simple flat designs, medium weaves, and tritonal palettes, and in good floor worthy condition are still available reasonably. The Native American weaving tradition extends into Colorado with two-piece scatters with sharp sawtooth medallions and striped end borders, with wool tapestry weave on cotton warps. These descend from the Saltillo blankets...