NINGXIA, NORTH CHINA, 17TH CENTURY

This daybed cover is very similar in appearance to lot 141 in the present sale but excludes the additional paired bats within the field. The present rug notably includes the Chinese shòu (壽) symbol at its very center and between each of the inverted, paired foliate leaf dragons above and below the central medallion. This geometric, maze-like symbol is a Chinese character representing longevity and is commonly found on textiles, furniture, ceramics and jewelry, and would traditionally have been intended to have a direct influence on the life of its owner. The ideograph may appear alone or be surrounded by flowers, bats, or other good luck symbols, but will always hold a central position. A closely related example with the same fret corner brackets enclosing the central roundel, but without the shou symbol is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, (A. Hackmack, Chinese Carpets and Rugs, Tientsin-Peking, 1923, pl. XX, fig.49).