Antique Tibetan Door Rug
N°
AT017
Period
Circa 1880
Origin
Tibet
Materials
Wool
Status
Available
Size
158 x 99 cm5'2" x 3'3"
An especially rare example of door rug, known with this term because the design mimics the same exact motifs present on the silk and cotton brocades which sometimes decorate the façades of traditional Tibetan houses. These brocades used to be woven in China probably since the Ming period if not earlier, although the present configuration relates to a version woven during the Qing dynasty.
Door rugs are typically very finely knotted and employ a particularly silky quality of Himalayan wool, imparting a special luminescence to the pattern. This type of Tibetan weaving is very seldom seen as they were originally woven in a limited quantity and only as special commissions.