ANTIQUE CHINESE WOOL RUG
Size, 7.10 × 5.2
The modern Chinese wool rugs are not at all like this antique specimen, which was woven in Shantung about the year 1750. The material is wool, the pile is very thick and soft, and the texture, though loosely woven, is lasting. A large circular form in the centre of the field is richly decorated in a fine blue, yellow, and white floral design. Ivory is also seen in the markings, but no other colors are used except light yellow and a deep blue. The field is of a rare apricot hue, very unusual and beautiful. The border holds a Chinese fret design, the symbol of long life. This is in a rich deep blue, and the out-most part of it is in a dark shade of blue. The separate sprays of flowers on this rug represent the tea flower, which the Chinese use for decorative purposes, and the larger sprays hold the imperial flower.
Owned by the Estate of the late
Mr. H. O. Havermeyer, New York.
In the northern part of China rugs are decorated with colored threads in crude imitation of figures; they are woven in sections, and then sewed together. Camel's hair of a coarse quality is used extensively by the Chinese for their rugs, and the laboring class use felts in their houses. These are cheap and durable, and are placed on the tiled floors so common in the colder parts of China. The skins of the doe, deer, and fox are much used in China as rugs. These skins are sewed together in sections, according to various designs, and resemble mosaic work.
There are more circular rugs found in China than in any other country, and some are exported. But they are seldom called for in this country, and clerks in the large establishments which import them express surprise when inquiries are made for them. The warp of the ordinary Chinese rug is mostly of cotton, and the woof and pile are of wool or camel's hair.
Tsun-hua rugs are made of silk and camel's hair in the province of Chi-Li.