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Chinese RugsArea rugs of Chinese origin are well made and becoming increasingly more popular. The Chinese rug is often made of wool, then hand carved. They are sometimes tufted which adds to their durability. The ancient art of hand knotting is sometimes employed in the making of a Chinese rug. Chinese rugs are woven with a 5-ply yarn, and a well-constructed Chinese rug will last for years. Traditional Chinese rugs and carpets can be recognized by their simple, classic motifs and unusual colors. These rugs often feature a center, circular medallion; familiar objects seen in nature such as animals, flowers, and clouds. Often symbols are used from the various cultures and religions found in China. They're usually framed with a simple, wide border. The motifs on Chinese rugs are symbolic rather than decorative. Chinese Rugs range in colour from subtle tones and muted shades to warm earth colors like mocha brown, mellow old gold, moss and apple green, rusty red, deep blue, and cinnamon. Whatever your colour preference, you could enhance it with a fine Chinese carpet. History of Chinese Rugs Large wool carpets have only been used in China in recent years. Rugs to cover the "Kang" or fire heated brick bed platform were used in early Ming times, and they were quite small. For the Ming period and for a large part of the Ching Dynasty, woolen rugs used for the "Kang", as well as temple floor mats, prayer rugs and woolen hangings all came from the northern border area of China. In later time, the areas of Tibet, Mongolia, Northern Shansi, Suiyuan and Ninghsia all produced high-quality carpets. History teaches us that no wool looms were used in Beijing until the early 1860s. In 1860, a weaving school was created at Paoku for the poor of Beijing by a Buddhist priest named Ho Chi-ching. The school was successful and split into two schools, Western gate and Eastern gate. The Western gate school eventually moved to Tientsin. In the late 1800s, the quality of the rug making had deteriorated badly. The Tientsin wool rug industry soon collapsed completely with the fall of the Ching dynasty. With the aid of western investment, the rug industry was restarted in both Tientsin and Shanghai in the 1930's. In 1949, Hong Kong and other points in Asia revived rug making, employing modern techniques. The ancient motifs found on Chinese Carpets are fundamentally symbolic, not really decorative. The artistic language is composed primarily of symbols and their meaning has not changed over the centuries. There are many, so interpreting them is not easy. Some have been drawn from nature, others from ancient local myths, and still others from the Buddhist and Taoist religions. A few are composed of creative, complicated designs. The dragon is used frequently and symbolizes the union of the earthly and celestial forces and the emperor. Other frequent symbols are the phoenix, representing immortality and the empress, the Fo-dog which symbolizes protection from evil, the lotus flower, representing purity and summer, the peony representing respect and wealth, the stag and stork (longevity), the cloud which symbolizes divine power, the mountain and water indicating stability on a stormy sea, the bat representing fortune, since its name phonetically resembles anfu (fortune). Others include the swastika (cosmic rotation) and the ideograms Shou and Fu (fortune). Column carpets typically use eight common Buddhist symbols, the canopy (royalty), the lotus (prosperity), the umbrella (authority and good government), the shell (victory), the wheel (the route to salvation), the vase (harmony) two fish (happiness and utility), and the endless knot (longevity and destiny). Eight Taoist symbols are also used. The sword (victory), the staff and gourd (healing), the fan (immortality), the basket of flowers (magic), castanets (soothing music), the flute (miracles), the lotus (prosperity), and bamboo and staffs (foresight and fortune). Maybe you can see some of these symbols and interpret the meaning of your Chinese rug! |
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