Ming Chinese and East Asian Rugs

77449, antique Chinese Art Deco rug with Ming Dynasty style. This hand knotted wool antique Chinese Art Deco rug features a color-blocked field and border scheme festooned with asymm...

Behold, a magnificent antique carpet from the late Ming Dynasty period, a true testament to the artistry and craftsmanship of ancient China. Crafted from the finest wool and meticulo...

77548, antique Chinese pictorial tapestry with traditional crane design. This hand knotted wool antique Chinese pictorial tapestry features a large red-crowned crane design set against an abrashed neutral field. The crane is depicted standing on one leg with its wings outstretched while perched atop a cliff alongside several bamboo plants. The crane is one of the most widely used symbols throughout Chinese art and literature and figures heavily in Chinese mythology. The creature is thought to represent longevity, immortality, nobility, and fidelity. It is often represented alongside bamboo, as it is in this piece, another symbol of longevity. The warm sepia backdrop recalls ancient Chinese scrolls...

A very unusual long and narrow pillar rug, decorated by large lotus flowers with tracery in a manner reminiscent of Ming period weavings. It is very finely ...

A central, five-clawed dragon (the symbol of both the forces of nature and the Chinese emperor), is surrounded by four other dragons, all floating on an indigo blue background. At bo...

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 ...

Exquisite Early 20th Century Chinese Embroidery Discover a stunning piece of art from the early 20th century – a Chinese embroidery masterpiece. This work of art features a mythologi...

A rare example of Ningxia Chinese throne back cover of Imperial quality in pristine condition. A true gem distinguished by a plethora of shades of red, ...

A very unusual Chinese rug, possibly used originally as a dais cover, which had been previously attributed to the Western region of Gansu (H. König, Gansu, Hali 138, London 2005, pl. 13, p. 58). However both the structure and the colours are fairly typical of Ningxia weavings from the Kangxi period (1662-1722), which marks the first Qing Dynasty empire following the Ming Dynasty and which still carries much of its iconography. Of particular note are the four stylised blue dragons on a coral background which decorate the corners of the composition. A true masterpiece of early Chinese textile art.

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...

A very finely woven antique Chinese rug woven in the Imperial workshops of Peking. Distinguished by an elegant pattern of scrolling lotus flowers on an indigo background, this type r...

This rug belongs to a small group of weavings recently defined as RKO because of their distinctive design, consisting of a sequence of bands with strokes and dashes that are reminiscent of the sonic sound waves present on the logo of the RKO motion picture company. The structural characteristics of this piece, together with the type of wool employed, indicate its origin to the district of Kansu, of which we know only fifteen examples. The field pattern is clearly a rendition of a tiger pelt...

A very rare small format, very finely knotted antique rug from the oasis of Kashgar, located in eastern Turkestan. Distinguished by a unique soft red background and by an all-over pattern consisting of a trellis containing a directional floral blossom motif characteristic of the Indian Mughal Dynasty...

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...

The only huge carpet known to have left the Imperial Palace in Beijing's Forbidden City, formerly in the Perenchio collection, is the famous Tiffany carpet, 9.99 metres long and once 9.68 metres wide, but since reduced to 7.20 metres wide. The carpet was originally made in three parts to fit around the columns of an unknown hall, and was reportedly last used in China in the private temple of the Empress Dowager Cixi. It was purchased for Louis Comfort Tiffany of New York, who owned it for more than thirty years. The Tiffany carpet is currently attributed to the end of the Ming dynasty and is thought to have been made in the first part of the 17th century. The field pattern is composed of a repeating design of rows of lotus flowers on a soft beige ground, originally deep red, overlaid in the centre with a medallion formed by a blue line edged in ivory and pinched in the four corners. The field is enclosed by two borders on the same colour, which reappears beyond the borders to create a wide band around the outer edge. The inner border is composed of a lattice of stepped squares filled with a swastika, with a large rosette at each intersection. The outer border is a double version of the swastika fret. A section of the field is shown here, and a few other fragments survive. The Tiffany carpet clearly forms a link between the carpets made during the late 16th century and those made in the late 17th century. Examples with an identical flower design or the same specific ‘heavy’ weave are now referred to as the ‘Tiffany’ type after this most important carpet. Other carpets of this type include one in the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City and one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Tiffany type...

This graphic and sophisticated Ming rug was realized in China, circa 1880. Presented against a black background, the circular rug presents sprigs of cherry blossoms resting in a vase...

Enchanting early 20th century highly decorative Chinese Peking rug with an abrashed light blue field The wool and feel of the rug is very soft on the feet. It has a silky sheen to it...

A very rare silk Ningxia carpet with an unusual lacquer red background decorated at the centre by a large phoenix and surrounded by four smaller phoenixes in the corners. The phoenix...

A rare and unusual red ground Chinese rug decorated by an infinite repeat pattern composed of a network of geometric devices derived from silk brocades of the Ming period. Examples o...

Characterised by the delicate drawing which distinguishes the weavings of the short and noble Yongzheng period (1723-1735), it has a beautifully drawn...

The extremely rare and monumental, ivory background large carpet shown here is decorated by an harmonious pattern of blue and light blue scrolling lotus flowers connected to each oth...

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...