Kashgar Rug, Rare Silk On Silk, 30 X 42 Cm, Qing Dynasty, Chinese Turkestan, 19th C

Rare small Kashgar carpet in silk on hand-knotted silk under the Qing dynasty, (1644-1911) originating from Central Asia and more precisely from Eastern Turkestan, Chinese Turkestan.
These carpets are falsely called Samarkand carpets, an ancient city of Uzbekistan, in the same way as Khotan and Yarkend carpets.
In fact, it is under this bad name that the creations of Chinese Turkestan have been named on Western markets for a long time.
Their name Samarkand comes from the fact that Kashgar, Yarkend and Khotan were sold at the end of the 19th century on the very important market of Samarkand, while these three types of carpets originate from their own production area, the oases.
bearing their names.
These rugs are more delicate and more beautiful and enormously more sought after than the very beautiful pieces that are the Tekké, Yomoud..... rugs from West Turkestan, which I adore and collect.
The Kashgar remain the most highly valued in our group and only careful examination of the structure and decoration of each example allows the origin to be identified with certainty.
This does not mean, however, that Khotan and Yarkend are devalued, on the contrary, they are actively sought-after rugs.
Our model presents a putty field decorated with a medallion trapping a stylized rust flower in a black band separated by ethnic motifs.
The decor is set in relief on a dense and tight hand-knotted silk. Probably a small seat mat or a wedding gift.
The particularity of the Kashgar compared to the Yarkend and Khotan is also the very dark line, the marked outline of the motifs, an element that is not found or is more lightly applied to the other two types.
## History of peoples and countries:
From the 18th century to the first half of the 19th century, while the West distinguished between the various Turkic languages (branches of Altaic languages), certain foreign researchers and writers invented the term " Turkestan" to refer to the region south of the Tianshan Mountains and northern Afghanistan, which generally covers areas from southern Xinjiang to Central Asia.
They called the regions on both sides of the Pamirs "West Turkestan" and "East Turkestan".
## the lasr photo is the reverse of the rug
Dimensions: Width: 30 cm (12") x Length: 42 cm (16.5")
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REF WINSTEIN 1385