In this peacefully happy NYC living space, a saturated yellow ground Chinese Deco carpet with a sage green border lays the base for a seating area that balances the bright and bold energy of pure sunshine with the soothing essence of nature.
There’s something about the way that a yellow ground Chinese Deco celebrates the other colors in the design. Like a burst of sunshine that feeds all life, the hue sparks the intensity of vibrant floral colors and the motion of wildlife.
If you’re loving on this look, here’s a few yellow ground Decos (or otherwise complimentary rugs to the look above) that might spark your interest:
When you’re ready to bring some cheer into your space, you know who to call!
Born of a northern region where climate is cold and arid (conditions ideal for raising sheep), Chinese rugs were traditionally produced in an area also subject to continual conflict between Chinese and nomadic tribes to the north and west. The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has been home to a variety of cultures, and the rugs created therein could be attributed to Muslim, Turkish, and Mongolian ethnic minorities while clearly retaining a strong influence from Chinese art. While there is some debate over the origin of style in this general area, each region has it’s own unique character and weave.
Baotou having been a main trade post for excellent wool and carpets from the region, was itself well known for it’s pictorial rugs. The city’s Mongolian name translates to “place with deer”, which may account for the recurring theme of this imagery. Many of these pieces are of landscapes and animals (showing mountains, deer, birds, trees, and waterways), depicting scenes from daily life or traditional stories. Other designs created are still life images (displaying vases with floral arrangements, tables, books, and scrolls), sometimes with auspicious symbols.
Earlier Baotou rugs depicted realistic imagery within the center of the rug, with geometric patterning surrounding them, and enclosed in borders. Evolving over time, the images began to occupy the entire surface of the carpet and borders were disregarded, creating a style that was more akin to paintings than that of traditional floor coverings.
While changes in composition are apparent, just as obvious is the sustained use of traditional color – in this case predominantly indigo blue. Masters of dying, some Baotou weavers used various shades of indigo as the only color within a piece – creating layers of nuance. Reds, yellows, and neutrals/browns seem to be the complimentary colors often found within the work.
To view these, and other antique Bao Tou carpets, please visit our website.
Looking to make a statement with your interior? Antique Chinese Art Deco rugs may be just the piece you are looking for to meet that criteria. With strong colors, and bold designs, they are an optimal choice for your modern space.
Symbols
A Chinese tradition
Symbolic imagery is used in many forms of Asian art, and the carpet has not been left out of this tradition. Symbols can be a constant source of conversation in your space.
Flowers
A bouquet of color
Many of your basic Chinese art deco carpets are adorned with colorful bursts of flowers, which pop brightly off of the solid background giving the pieces character and contrast.
Dragons
Bearer of good fortune
The dragon can be depicted in many ways within the woven arts of China, but almost always they are a symbol of positive forces – bringing with them health, wealth, happiness, and knowledge.
Birds
Meaning takes flight
There are many meanings for the use of birds within Chinese symbolism – changing with the variety of bird depicted. Peacocks represent good luck and fortune, while the Crane may express longevity and wisdom, and the duck may symbolize loyalty.
Color
Bright and bold
Some rugs are all about strength of color – an attribute which may make the boldest statement in the space you’re working with.
Whatever the statement you are trying to make with your rug – Chinese Art Deco carpets are a surefire way to emphasize drama in your decor. View our collection of antique Chinese Deco rugs to find your perfect match today!
Made by Puntro Molley (?). His needlepoint rugs were more appealing than others made at the time due to his varied use of different kinds of wool (thickness, sheen, etc) and varied stitching methods. In one piece, perhaps 5-6 types of wool may have been used, creating a texture and look that is more interesting than others in the market.
His designs were usually based on 16-18th century english textiles.
One piece recently sold at auction for 120,000 just to give an idea of value.
How can an antique Tekke Ensi be special? There must be a zillion of them (or more). But this not your grandfather’s Tekke Ensi. In fact, this rug is at a whole ‘another level. Take a good look and follow our list of special points. And these are not the only differentiating features. The more you look, the more you see. Our list includes:
The rare extra vertical panels repeating the main border design in the field quarters.
The apparently unique addition of horizontal bands in the same pattern above and below the central crossbar.
The unusual “bulls eye” spandrel panels which are more in the Yomud style than the (very usual) Tekke manner.
The extremely fine weave of around 220 knots per square inch.
The extremely wide jewel tone color palette including pale yellow, burnt apricot, two reds (blood red and warm madder), two cochineals, three blues (including an exceptional midnight), dark brown, dark green, ivory, brown; generally way wider than the usual six color Ensis.
The points on the central three vertical columns in section of the central axis.
Dots edging the stylized flower heads in the border.
The quincunx details in the top border.
The unusual triple lozenge fillers in the “mihrab” between the spandrels.
Probably a whole lot more of subtle details. This rug was not a commercial production, churned out ad seriatim by unrelenting Tekke women weavers. The woman who wove it was a true artist and the patron was someone of taste. Their identities are obviously lost, but their contribution remains. This rug is a true labour of love.
The Ensi was supposedly used as a door rug on the Turk men round felt tent or yurt. Some examples still retain hanging ropes in the top corners, but our does not, and it is slightly taller than the usual antique examples, Bigger rug, bigger door, bigger tent, more important person. Some local big shot from around Merv just across from the Persian border who wanted the best. The work is exacting, the result truly collectible. There are other antique Tekke ensis, some older, some more archaic in design, but we have yet to find a similar gesamtkunstwerke
Two vintage mid-20th century Ecuadorian Carpets Designed by Olga Fisch.
Of Hungarian origin, Olga Fisch(1901-1991) emigrated in 1933, first to Morocco and in 1939 to Ecuador, head of the political instability wracking Europe. Already an artist and collector of folk art, Fisch quickly took to the local arts and crafts available in the Quito markets. She was inspired by primitive, folk and paleolithic cave art and established a workshop creating knotted pile carpets to her individualistic and unique designs. The firm continues today, as does the museum of (primarily) Ecuadorian folk art. Only domestic sheep wool is employed and the rugs are firmly symmetrically (Turkish) knotted on a cotton foundation at a density of 60,000 knots per square metre or about 40 knots per square inch. It takes four weavers about six weeks to complete a 9’ by 12’ carpet.
Our two carpets, both from the 1950’s, are in her most popular and iconic -patterns. Number 21953 (12’ by 16)’ in the “Caverna” pattern, displays, on an ivory ground, and without borders, an agitated congeries of stick figures of hunters and prey, primarily deer, adapted from the Paleolithic cave paintings of Lascaux, discovered in 1940 and incredibly influential in mid-century art. Whereas most examples are in the 9’ by 12’ or 10’ by 13’ formats, this is certainly one of the largest renderings of the pattern. The increased size allows the larger hunters and animals free movement, and increases the impact of the individual figures. Small variants were also woven, with only a few animals, also on a beige ground.
Our other carpet, number 21802 (11.0 x 13.4) is a rare oval creation with the “Cabalito” pattern inspired by the folk embroidery on the “danzantes’ participants in the Corpus Christi processions from Cotopaxi, Ecuador. A number of these costumes are in the Olga Fisch Folk Art Museum in Quito. The pattern densely fills the ivory field with mobile figures, horses and vegetal motives. It is reminiscent of certain Greek Island women’s costume embroideries. Often the “Cabalito” pattern occupies an oval or lobed section on an otherwise plain rectangular carpet, but here is the pattern takes up almost all of the oval, with its energetic filigree of figures, fauna and flora.
Other popular Olga Fisch patterns include the “Churos” design with angular discrete spirals on a subtly tones beige ground, a study in mid-century minimalism with only dark brown as an accent colour.
Olga Fisch carpets are as 1950’s modern as they get and our examples cry out for the right Danish or Swedish modern furniture as their perfect accompaniments. Some Italian Murano glass table objects won’t hurt either. A Neutra or Schindler house in the Los Angeles hills is definitely the perfect context, but any mid-century ranch house is certainly welcoming.
Today, minimalism reigns in much of the decorative carpet world. No borders, no traditional patterns, no classic design protocols. It is all so new, or is it? You might be surprised to discover that border less carpets, with minimal or even no patterns, in monochrome colors, were a considerable design thing in America in the 1930’s. The Great Depression affected domestic carpet demand. A flood of Persian goods shouldered aside the dominant Chinese carpets in the 1930’s and exports plummeted. Prices fell and manufacturers’ cost had to be reined in. This meant less design and faster weaving times, reducing labor costs. The trend from jazzy 1920’s Art Deco to more hard edged, more graphic 1930’s Art Deco can be seen in carpets from both European and Chinese sources.
Nichols was the leading, most stylish of the American firms in Tientsin, and most attuned to decorative trends. This group of progressively more minimalist Nichols antique Chinese Art Deco carpets is the result. One of the first things is to eliminate the borders, producing a uniform single allover tonality. On this is laid an asymmetric, two corner pattern. In our number 20288 (11’9″x 8’10”, 1920), the saturated navy ground is open except for two mountain “coins” in one corner and one diagonally across. These are most subtly embedded in tone-on-tone striated segments. The rich midnight ground does the talking here, a minimalism with a real presence.
Minimalism does not have to mean self effacing. Orange-pink, never found in nature, gives a real punch to our 22091 (12’0″x9’0″, c. 1920) with bamboo fret and writhing dragon diagonally opposed in the corners. The same tonality appears in number 22131 (15’10″x12’0″, early 1900) which is totally without any pattern, no secondary colors. This is as minimalist as you can get, except the tonality is not. Today, minimalist means taupe, tan, beige, ivory, straw or some other non-color, totally inoffensive, total ignorable. You just can’t ignore Deco Chinese minimalist carpets.
Almost as restrained in pattern is our royal blue carpet number 22616 (13’2″x10’0″, early 1930) with a design wholly delineated by carving alone. The color is magnificent and the subtle pattern makes the viewer’s eye work a bit, which should happen when appreciating a work of art. A close-up picture gives an idea of the subtle style of this piece.
Chinese Art Deco Rug #22616, size 13’2″x10’0″
Finally, two carpets with the same open fields, and geometric bud and rectangle opposite corners are number 20997 (11’4″x8’8″ c. 1930, royal blue) and 21781 (11’3″x8’6″, c. 1930, cardinal red) are wholly in the 30’s style, sharply drawn with a pars-pro-toot rendering of floral ornament. The corners cannot be ignored, but the almost minimalist fields easily dominate.
What these and other “minimalist” antique Art Deco Chinese carpets have in common are strong, saturated tonalities, superb physical texture and real personalities. Nothing wishy washy or non-committal about them. They have a commanding presence. Thus minimal need not be synonymous with invisible or ignorable. They worked with Art Deco furniture, the first Western unornamented furnishing style and they will work with whatever you throw at them!.
Antique Peking Chinese Landscape Pictorial Carpet.
Rug #23194 7’8 x 5’2″ Chinese Peking
Chinese painting goes back at least to the early centuries AD, on wall and portable on silk scrolls. It has been, at least from the 10th century under the Sung Dynasty, most esteemed when landscape is the primary subject matter. Figure painting, especially in the Chinning Dynasty ancestor portraits, has been a decidedly secondary consideration and the latter really are not considered art at all by rigorous Chinese connoisseurs. Landscape (shan/shui, mountain and water) is the true goal of the artist. But painting are not intended to be true representations, but landscapes of the mind, abstracted, formalized, idealized. Landscape painting has affected other Chinese art media: porcelain, jade and hard stone carving, lacquer work, snuff bottles, textiles, literally everything. That it has been a carpet design source is obviously predictable.
Our antique Peking Chinese carpet number 23194 (7’8″ x 5’2″) is a prime example of this influence. The anonymous Chinese designer, clearly familiar with hanging scrolls, has put a painting on a pile rug. Among the traditional motives are: an arched stone bridge, a similarly arched brick storage building with round top double doors (probably a granary), a wine shop flying a banner announcing that it is open for business, a rustic gazebo on a promontory, a two level pavilion further back on the hill, various iconic vegetation like grape vines and pine branches, and multi color swirling, knotted clouds. Conspicuous by their absence are munchkinoid humanoid figures: the ambling scholar with his staff, the fisherman in his cockleshell boat, the leisured gentleman taking in the scene from one of the airy buildings. The season looks like summer and this is no surprise since the home of painting for centuries was the old capital of Nanjing, a warm, subtropical city.
The color scheme of number 23194 is warm, with a gold ground in harmony with the secondary blue tones. Were it a classic blue and white antique Peking carpet, the effect would be significantly cooler. This rug comes right at the viewer and is laded with exotic, anecdotal charm. Peking Chinese pictorial rugs are often room size and depict fantasy palaces ensconced amid lakes and mountains, in both blue and white, and poly chrome, as here, palettes. The Chinese designer drew on a bottomless reservoir of interchangeable design elements to produce an unmistakably oriental creation. The rug was woven in the first quarter of the 20th century for the American market. So where do you put the furniture? A chair on the bridge? A coffee table on the wine shop? A floor lamp on the gazebo? Or give it some breathing room and use it as a window (on the floor!) into a lost, imaginary time and place.
The color mavens at the Pantone Color Institute have settled on a hue for 2017: “Greenery” (no. 15-0343), a grassy , welcoming green, with a touch of yellow and not at all deep or foresty. Now, you want to be a courant in your carpet taste. You want, you have to have a green-Greenery rug. What to do? You come to Rahmanan Antique and Decorative! To find what?
First, a bit of background. Antique Persian carpets are never in this shade or anywhere near it. Natural dyes (a combination of indigo blue and weld yellow, for example), simply cannot produce it. The only antique oriental carpets with truly green fields are either Turkish Oushaks or Art Deco Chinese Tientsin (Tianjin) pieces. In both cases, the green is synthetic, derived from dyes of European origin (likely Swiss or German). Leaving aside the Turkish carpets for another blog, let’s look at a few GREEEEEEN Chinese pieces.
Rahmanan has, by a long margin, the largest selection/collection of room sized antique Art Deco Chinese carpets in the universe. Period. Therefore, it has the biggest and best assortment of GREEN Deco Chinese carpets. We have selected four for closer consideration. Two are border less, two with simple, basically monochrome frames.
Number 20753 (8.10 by 11.3) is a c. 1930 Nichols production with an open green field, complex flower sprays in two opposed corners, and no borders. Even the selvages (edge finishes) are the field tone. Nichols, an American established in Tientsin and selling almost exclusively to the U.S. market in the interwar period, was justly famed for top quality materials and innovative designs. You get a good, big dose of green here.
Rug #20753 Chinese-Art Deco 11’3″ x 8’10”
Another borderless, asymmetrical carpet with a wonderful open green ground close to the 2017 colour pick is Number 22129 (9.10 by 14.4) with an amazing giant peacock in one corner. This is one bird you don’t want to cover with furniture, Art Deco or otherwise. Again, the green is magnificent, rich (but not too rich) and warm.
Rug #22129 Chinese-Art Deco 14’4″ x 9’0″
Two bordered carpets display Chinese objects (porcelain vases, flower pots on stands, hanging lanterns) along with lush sprays and branches of seasonal flowers. Number 22174 (6.0 by 8.10) has a plain peach border and the asymmetrical pattern shows a healthy serving of the right green. Butterflies flit about in addition to the usual Chinese design repertory on Number 22208 (9.2 by 11.6), Again, the green is a delightful background to the just exotic enough décor.
Rug #22174 Chinese-Art Deco 8’10” x 6’0″
Rug #22208 Chinese-Art Deco 11’8″ x 9’0″
So, you don’t have to feel that style is passing you by. Antique Art Deco Chinese carpets (1920-1935) are incredibly chic, and work perfectly with modern, modern and contemporary furnishings. These carpets are available in great condition and the styles have never been duplicated. And when another color is selected, you can rest assured that there are Deco Chinese pieces to match that hue also.
Our Caucasian Blog only briefly sketched the range of types from this mountainous region of a thousand languages and ethnicity. Here are a couple a particularly interesting pieces that help to expand on our remarks.
Good things do not last at Rahmanan! Somebody else may be interested in these rugs, but you still have a chance. Anyway, you can still see why attention should be paid. Consider the Akstafa. Our Caucasian Rug blog of last week did not mention Akstafa as a distinct type. Indeed, nobody did until the 1980’s.Located and regular between Gendje and Shirvan, this highly individual weaving district seems to have almost exclusively specialized in just two rug types: a long rug, as here, with pairs of peacocks around eight-point medallions, on navy or brown-black fields, with a close scatter of smaller geometric devices. The more variety in these elements, the better the rug. Since our example has a particularly dense fill, it must be, and is very good. A true work of folk art. The other Akstafa design appears on prayer design rugs of smaller format and is usually an allover boteh (paisley) pattern. Both types employ the same ivory border with hooked squares. Akstafa seems not to have woven scatter rugs. Do not cut these artistically intriguing long rugs to make scatters!.
Rug no. 21711 (3.8 by 11.0) is a particularly fine example from a rare group of mid-19th century Shirvan long rugs, almost always with radiant blue, more or less open, grounds. A few simple geometric devices scarcely interrupt the open window character of the long royal blue ground. One can virtually step through it, into…….This rug is the aesthetic antithesis of the Akstafa, saying a lot with very little. Minimalist modern art has nothing on this piece.Neither rug is more valid, more beautiful than the other. This Shirvan long rug, one of a select group of no more than a few dozen known examples, employs, as almost all the others do, a poly chrome border of triangles, the so-called ‘Dragon’ pattern, which to our eyes looks more like a parade of wedgie shoes! So call it the colorful wedgie shoe border. Several examples of this select group are dated before 1850, and no. 19711 may be significantly older than our ultra-conservative attribution. The weave is neat, even and regular
Are these rugs collectible? If you want to hang them vertically,then better have a mansion or country estate with tall ceilings, or you can roll them out for carpet aficionados to drool over. Or you can just treat them right and live with them and love them. What’s not to like?
Antique Rug Studio 