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Lot Essay
Woven for both the imperial court and nobility, Qing dynasty rugs were often made for a specific place or function. Based on its proportions, the present lot was probably made as a day bed cover that typically would have been reserved for an important guest. The elegance of this carpet lies in the balanced symmetry of the five unusual equal-sized medallions in the field. Each medallion comprises six lobes formed from a stylised ‘T’ or ‘cloud-band’-motif that encircle a flowering lotus blossom. Resembling lily-pads across the face of the carpet the medallions emerge from the ton-sur-ton sandy flowering peony vine beneath (a symbol of purity). The border pattern of confronting dragons is one that appears often on early Chinese bronzes, although one could be forgiven for interpreting them as an extension of the scrolling vine that is in each corner as they have grown quite abstract in their form. The careful resolution of each border corner where the peony has been rotated to sit on the diagonal, illustrates that this carpet was woven by an established workshop with skilled weavers, (Friedrich Sphuler, The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Carpets and Textiles, London, 1998, p.220-1, pl.59).
There are four other carpets with five medallions that are closely related to this example, the best known of these being in the St. Louis Museum of Art formerly in the Ballard Collection (published in the The James F. Ballard Collection of Oriental Rugs, Indianapolis, 1924, No.94). That rug has dragons within four of the medallions and peonies and stylised vine within the border. Two other daybed carpets from the same period and with similar borders are, the Bischoff phoenix rug in the Textile Museum, Washington D.C., and the Pratt carpet in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, (Hans König and Michael Franses, Glanz der Himmelssöhne Kaiserliche Teppiche Aus China, London, 2005, pl.25). A fourth example, offered in these Rooms, 8 October 2013, lot 55, uses a limited amount of indigo within the outline of each field medallion which renders them nearly invisible, if it weren’t for the writhing dragons centred within each.
The taste for Chinese works of art was very fashionable at the turn of the 20th century in Europe and America when Victor Geloubewi purchased the present lot. Interestingly, between 1909 and 1920 about 1,650 Chinese rugs labelled antique were offered for sale in various auctions in New York and most were in near perfect condition. Today, only 400 carpets are attributable to the Kangxi period and most are in distressed or fragmentary condition, making ours all the more desirable (Michael Franses, Lion-dogs Hundred Antiques Classical Chinese Carpets I, London, 2000, p.14).
There are four other carpets with five medallions that are closely related to this example, the best known of these being in the St. Louis Museum of Art formerly in the Ballard Collection (published in the The James F. Ballard Collection of Oriental Rugs, Indianapolis, 1924, No.94). That rug has dragons within four of the medallions and peonies and stylised vine within the border. Two other daybed carpets from the same period and with similar borders are, the Bischoff phoenix rug in the Textile Museum, Washington D.C., and the Pratt carpet in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, (Hans König and Michael Franses, Glanz der Himmelssöhne Kaiserliche Teppiche Aus China, London, 2005, pl.25). A fourth example, offered in these Rooms, 8 October 2013, lot 55, uses a limited amount of indigo within the outline of each field medallion which renders them nearly invisible, if it weren’t for the writhing dragons centred within each.
The taste for Chinese works of art was very fashionable at the turn of the 20th century in Europe and America when Victor Geloubewi purchased the present lot. Interestingly, between 1909 and 1920 about 1,650 Chinese rugs labelled antique were offered for sale in various auctions in New York and most were in near perfect condition. Today, only 400 carpets are attributable to the Kangxi period and most are in distressed or fragmentary condition, making ours all the more desirable (Michael Franses, Lion-dogs Hundred Antiques Classical Chinese Carpets I, London, 2000, p.14).