China Carpet Circa 1970

Entirely knotted by hand, pure wool, vegetable dyes, size: 1.46mX0.92m In China there is a long tradition of the carpet and the first of them, which were probably objects of exchange, appeared there was more than 2,000 years old when they were used at the imperial court. However, the art of weaving carpets for the first time only happened between the 15th and 17th centuries. The motifs consisted of ancient religious symbols, among which the representations of dragons were very prominent. The symbols found on carpets often have a Taoist or Buddhist origin. On old carpets, it is common to see fine cotton warps which, combined with a thick velvet thread, give big knots and carpets which are at the same time very thick, soft and supple and extremely solid. They were manufactured, among others, in the provinces of Gansu, Ningxia, Suiyüan and Inner Mongolia in the city of Baotou) also pronounced "Paotou" in Europe.