Modern Tibetan Rug

A modern Tibetan rug from the 21st century with silk highlights inspired by western design and architecture. Measures: 3' 2" x 4' 11"

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...

Late 20th century part silk part wool Tibetan carpet in warm brown and gold hues. Measures: 11'9" x 14'10".

Rugs woven in this particular type of cut-loop technique follow a tradition which dates to the earliest forms of pile weaving. Each of the four panels is woven individually and are t...