NORTH CHINA, LATE 18TH CENTURY

Very few of these round Ningxia carpets survive and their specific use remains something of a mystery. Circular carpets are found in a number of other cultures such as Mamluk Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, Mughal India and Safavid Persia. It seems likely that these exquisite circular carpets were rather like campaign furniture and were used on the floor of tents when the emperor or dignitaries were travelling. We know of two 17th century Ningxia circular carpets of similar size to the present lot but with an overall lattice field design, one with a pattern of swastika frets in a private Milanese collection (John J. Eskenazi, Il Tappeto Orientale, Turin, 1987, pl.328, p.476) and the other has an octagonal rosette field interspersed with swastikas (Michael Franses and Hans König, Glanz der Himmelssohne, Kaiserliche Teppiche Aus China 1400-1750, London, 2005, pl.52, pp.147-149). A third example is the 18th century König lion dog circular carpet (Michael Franses, Lion-dogs Hundred Antiques Classical Chinese Carpets I, London, 2000, pl.10, p.42). The König carpet is more closely related to the present carpet than the other two, containing a design of fou dogs and a similar peony border. Our carpet is made all the more striking by its bold bi-tonal colouring and the unusual and very elegant ideogram in the centre of the carpet, the symbol shou, which translates as longevity in Chinese.