Old Chinese Rug | 352 x 257 cm | Nr. 16738

Floral old Chinese rug, beige-yellow with border and medallion

Origin	China
Dimensions	352 cm x 257 cm (= 9.05 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: wool Weft & Warp: cotton
knots per m²2	90.000
Pile height	15mm
Year of manufacture	1990
Colour	Beige-yellow, blue-grey
Edition	one-of-a-kind piece

Origin

Rugs were in all likelihood known in China very early on. The Mongol invasion around 1279 — the Mongols brought Central Asian rugs with them and used them as tents and saddlery — gave a boost to the local production that probably already existed in China at the time. An exhibition in Saint Louis in the USA in 1903 awakened interest in Chinese rugs in the Western world. Soon afterwards, rugs were being made in China purely for export to Europe and North America. This old Chinese rug is around 30 years old and a real collector's piece.

Pattern

The lush floral motifs of this Chinese rug are elegant and wonderfully varied. The graceful plant symbols, depicting blossoms, leaves and branches, are artfully intertwined.

The decorated surround (border) forms a wonderful contrast to the centre and shapes the transition at the edge of the rug.

At the middle of this Chinese rug's central field sits the symmetrical centre, also known as the medallion. The design of the field is subordinate to the medallion, so that the medallion seems to float on the field.

The background of this Chinese rug is blue-grey. The overall impression is also dominated by beige-yellow and blue-grey. The border is worked in blue-grey and beige. In the grey centre, blue-grey and light brown are combined.

Condition

You are not the first to take a liking to this Chinese rug. It has had owners before you who valued and used it. It was hand-knotted around 1990. It has been thoroughly cleaned and is in good, though only partially restored, condition. In the centre there are a few large, light stains caused by damage in transit. We have not fully restored this Chinese rug because we feel it has a special presence just as it is. If you would like us to, we will of course gladly carry on restoring the rug for you. We can bring almost any rug back to near-perfect condition.

Material

China rugs are hand-knotted from silky, lustrous wool. For our high-quality China rugs, the wool is obtained by gently shearing live sheep. New wool is a renewable, natural raw material with a number of impressive properties: thanks to the natural lanolin in the wool, the surface repels droplets of water and is naturally proofed against dirt. Wool also offers excellent thermal insulation, helps regulate the indoor climate and dampens sound. The knot density is relatively low – as is typical of Chinese rugs – and the pile is left long.

The weft and warp threads of this China rug are made of cotton. This versatile material is tear-resistant and stretchy, which makes it ideal for a hard-wearing foundation weave.