#19647 Khotan | As Seen in Rooms With a View

Rug #: 19647

Type: Khotan

Origin: China

Size: 4’8″ x 7’7″

Circa: 1920

When George Marshall Peters of Pamela Bankers office asked if we would be interested in participating in their Rooms  With a View show space we were delighted. The vignette that George had planned out was influenced by a recent trip to Asia, and included a piece of art from his own collection.  The painting contained delicate cranes upon a golden ground, with a rice paper feel, which strongly influenced the rest of the design – and screamed to be accompanied by a soft toned Asian carpet.

With a small (approximately 8′ square) floorplan, wallpaper samples, photos of the furniture, and the feeling of the central art piece in mind, George and I began our search.  Though we pulled a few other options out that could have worked, it was clear that a warm, traditional Chinese piece was the best way to go for the space he imagined.

Photo via MANUFOTO

While George had originally nixed this Khotan as an option due to it’s size, Ramin and I knew it was a great match for the look he was going for.  Many designers will rule out perfectly fitted rugs based on architectural lines drawn on paper, rather than trying the rug in the space.  Upon sight of this carpet though, George agreed to see if it would fit, without making the room feel cramped.

Photo via MANUFOTO

Though the Khotan does fit wall to wall, the vignette was a huge success, each element falling into place beautifully – the carpet really completing the conversation between the other components of the room.  The golden neutral tones of the rug were woven in beautifully with the naturally textured wallpaper and golden collectables placed about, the earthy browns complimenting the darkness of the floor and furniture, and the subtle geometry pulling in the small geometric art elements that George used in perfecting the details of this space.

Additional spaces designed by others can be seen on Quintessence blog.
*written by Katrina Mauro

#18355 Chinese – NingXia: circa 1750

#18355
Chinese, Ning Xia, Platform Carpet
3.99m x 4.06m (13’1” x 13’4”)
2^nd half of the18^th century.

Structure:

Warp: Cotton, white, natural, Z-4-S
Weft: Cotton, white, natural, Z-4, 2 shoots alternating
Pile: Wool, Z-3 or Z-4, asymmetric knot, 4-5 h. x 6½v. = 27 – 33/in²
Sides: 2 body wraps weft attached and weft wrapped thinly
Ends: No original finish.

This piece has a very close parallel in David Franses’s, Lion-Dog and 100 Antiques Rugs, pl.15, Thyssen – Bornemisza Coll., a platform carpet 3.53 x 3.86m. Both employ a multi-colored cloud wreath surrounding a central rounded medallion of large lion–dog and several cavorting smaller ones. The fields are a similar salmon, but the T-B. piece uses precious objects instead of clouds and lion-dogs; the peonies are virtually identical. The overall effect is quite close. The T.B. piece uses large flower scroll corners instead of close fret scrolls, and in the former they are en-suite with the middle narrow border, which, in turn resembles both inner and main stripes to varying degrees. The T.B. example, however, uses a 3-dimensional swastika fret stripe and an inner band with running dog fret. The other stripe is plain brown in contrast to plain blue in our piece. The knot count in the T.-B. ex. is 6 x 6 = 36/in², roughly in line with ours and characteristic of the period.

The medallion re-appears almost exactly on Franses pl. 14, a lion-dog rug ex. Andonian coll., 2.2 x 3.7m (7.2 x 12.1) with similar wreath and dog-filled roundel, but the field is a diagonal tone-on-tone fret pattern with scattered cranes and peonies. The main border is close to ours, but yellow rather than blue, and there is a swastika fret inner stripe. The other surround is plain blue. Franses dates it similarly, second half of the 18^th century. No. structural analysis is given except to indicate cotton foundation, wool pile.

The cloud wreath surrounding a lion-dog medallion seems to be characteristic of large pieces in the second half of the 18^th century.

To view this piece on our website, please use the following link:
http://www.rahmanan.com/inventory/show/18355/