Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 9

Rare Large Antique White Japanese Cotton Nabesima Dantsu Rug with Ningxia Design

About the Item

Carpet weaving was introduced in Japan during the 17th century, when rugs began to be imported as luxury goods from China. Since Taisho period in the early 20th century, rugs were commonly referred to as 'Dantsu', deriving from the Chinese word for carpets, 'Tantsu'. The earliest Japanese pile carpets attempted to imitate Chinese prototypes. Large scale weaving began during the 18th century employing cotton yarn for the pile, since animal fibre was considered for some reason 'unclean'. At the beginning of the Meiji period (1868-1912), Dantsu rugs were still quite rare and regarded as items of great prestige. Rugs with early Ningxia Chinese patterns derived from the Ming and Kangxi periods, like the present example, were woven in the Nabesima carpet factory, typically in small format and very rarely in room-size dimensions like the piece presented here. These were originally destined either as gifts to Lord Nabesima own family, for the Shogun or for the Imperial Court. Records indicate that these were already quite costly at the time. Owning a Nabesima Dantsu was regarded as a sign of great wealth.
  • Dimensions:
    Width: 108.27 in (275 cm)Length: 147.64 in (375 cm)
  • Style:
    Meiji (Of the Period)
  • Materials and Techniques:
    Cotton,Hand-Knotted
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    circa 1860
  • Condition:
    Wear consistent with age and use.
  • Seller Location:
    Milan, IT
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: Alberto Levi Gallery 004861stDibs: LU954929582852
More From This SellerView All
  • Rare Antique Chinese Ningxia Rug with Blue Lotus Flowers on a Blush Pink Field
    Located in Milan, IT
    This rare Ningxia rug features a blush pink background decorated by a directional pattern of large blue lotus flowers, symbols of long life, connected by a thin leafy vinery. The blu...
    Category

    Antique Mid-18th Century Chinese Ming Chinese and East Asian Rugs

    Materials

    Wool

  • Early Chinese Ningxia Rug with Lotus Flowers
    Located in Milan, IT
    A rare and beautiful early Chinese carpet characterized by an infinite repeat of parallel and offset rows of blue and ivory lotus blossoms, symbols of purity, on a two-tone yellow ba...
    Category

    Antique Early 17th Century Chinese Ming Chinese and East Asian Rugs

    Materials

    Wool

  • Antique Indigo Blue Geometric Ningxia Chinese Rug with Rosettes in Compartments
    Located in Milan, IT
    A rare and unusual Chinese rug decorated with an all-over pattern of eight-petalled rosettes, joined together to form a lattice in the negative of which is the longevity motif, that ...
    Category

    Antique 1880s Chinese Ming Chinese and East Asian Rugs

    Materials

    Wool

  • Distressed 18th Century Antique Ningxia Chinese Narrow Runner Rug
    Located in Milan, IT
    An exquisitely elegant early Temple runner from the Ningxia region in northwest China, commissioned in the early 18th century for a Buddhist monastery in Tibet. The pattern is compos...
    Category

    Antique Early 18th Century Chinese Ming Chinese and East Asian Rugs

    Materials

    Wool

  • Antique Chinese Rug with Abstract Design
    Located in Milan, IT
    The painterly effect obtained by mixing varying proportions of ivory and indigo wool is peculiar to this family of northern Chinese weavings. As most of them were sourced directly in...
    Category

    Early 20th Century Chinese Chinoiserie Chinese and East Asian Rugs

    Materials

    Wool

  • Antique Square Chinese Rug with Abstract Design
    Located in Milan, IT
    A rare and unusual rug, reminiscent of a contemporary painting, decorated by an apparently casual miscellany of polychrome wools. Examples of this type hav...
    Category

    Vintage 1920s Chinese Art Deco Chinese and East Asian Rugs

    Materials

    Wool

You May Also Like
  • Rare Antique Ningxia Rug 2' 6'' x 2' 6''
    Located in New York, NY
    A rare dark blue chair seat with a fierce writhing central dragon and four surrounding similar creatures. Clouds are scattered about. A mountain, wave...
    Category

    Antique 1890s Chinese Chinese and East Asian Rugs

    Materials

    Wool

  • Rare Antique Ningxia Rug 3'0" x 5'10"
    Located in New York, NY
    A striped and quartered round medallion is set on a close textile patterned all-over red and gold field with fret corners enclosing swastika squares. Coins float in the main border.   
    Category

    Antique 1880s Chinese Chinese and East Asian Rugs

    Materials

    Wool

  • Antique Chinese Ningxia Rug Floating Dragon Design
    Located in Ferrara, IT
    This antique Chinese Ningxia rug Floating dragon design is a true work of art. The intricate design features dragons and clouds in shades of blue, white ...
    Category

    Antique Late 19th Century Chinese Other Chinese and East Asian Rugs

    Materials

    Wool

  • Vintage Ningxia Rug with Rare Cintamani pattern
    Located in Alessandria, Piemonte
    nr. 761 - Vintage Chinese Ningxia yellow saffron rug, with Cintamani pattern - A carpet out of the ordinary! Simple and very elegant: for a special home....
    Category

    Late 20th Century Chinese Other Chinese and East Asian Rugs

    Materials

    Wool

  • Antique Chinese Ningxia Rug
    Located in New York, NY
    #20853 Main Hall Carpet 11’9” x 12’ Mid 18th Century Structural Analysis: Warp:cotton,off-white,natural,Z-4-S,somewhat irregular; Weft:cotton,off-white,Z-4-S,winder plied, quite irregular;2 shots alternating; wefts thick and soft; Pile:wool,Z-4; Knot: PL/0 degrees warp depression/horiz. 6 x vertical 5 = 30 knots per square inch; knots somewhat irregular, some quite thin; [check for T knots along edges] Sides: two cords each of two body warps, inner directly weft-attached; figure eight sparsely weft yarn wrapped; Weft/knot ratio: 60/40 wefts predominant. Remarks: This is another variant on the popular Mandarin nine lion dog carpet...
    Category

    Antique 1750s Chinese Chinese and East Asian Rugs

    Materials

    Wool

  • Antique Chinese Ningxia Rug 2' 2" x 9' 9"
    Located in New York, NY
    Antique Chinese Ningxia rug. Size: 2'2" x 9'9".
    Category

    Antique Early 1900s Chinese Chinese and East Asian Rugs

    Materials

    Wool

Recently Viewed

View All