Antique Chinese Brown and Blue Khotan Rug, 1870s

Over the centuries the silk road has represented a great channel of transmission of cultural exchanges between different peoples, ethnic groups, religions and civilizations, so it seems natural that on the Silk Road the motifs that decorated them also passed along with the fabrics. Concepts and ideas that did not circulate in one direction, from East to West but also in the opposite direction. This circulation of ide is particularly evident in the carpets of Eastern Turkestan, the so-called ”Carpets of the Oasis” of Kashgar, Yarkand and Khotan. Our copy is part of the type with a motif of stylized rosettes inscribed within polygons arranged in the field in vertical rows. This motif is clearly associated with the Turkish carpet gul, considered as a sort of emblem, a symbol of tribal belonging. The decoration of the border, on the other hand, clearly draws inspiration from Chinese decorative patterns and ornaments, although there are elements common to certain carpets of the Caucasus (ram’s horns). Despite having so many different references and influences as regards the designs, the carpets of Eastern Turkestan constitute together a typology with univocal and well-defined characteristics: knotted with symmetrical knot they have a warp and weft in cotton and the fleece in soft wool good quality.”