Please complete the form to email this item.

Pillar rug

Pillar rug

  • Place of origin:

    China (made)

  • Date:

    1885 (dated)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Unknown (production)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Knotted woollen pile on cotton warp

  • Credit Line:

    Given by Mr J. Highfield Jones

  • Museum number:

    T.238-1928

  • Gallery location:

    China, room 44, case 64

  • Download image

Many Chinese Buddhist objects from the Qing Dynasty have links with Mongolia, as this pillar carpet. This rug was made specially for round temple pillars, and the curling dragon design is an appropriate one for such use, as the dragon designs join up when wrapped up around a pillar, and the rug designs look awkward when laid out flat.

The matching Mongolian and Chinese inscription at the top of each rug tells us they were presented for use in a Buddhist temple by a Mongol noble named Buringtogos.

Physical description

Pillar rug, knotted in woollen pile on a cotton warp. The field has on a red ground a dragon, chiefly in blue and white, arranged so as to round the pillar on which the carpet is placed. At the bottom is wave pattern and at the top are three bands, the widest of which contains an inscription in Chinese characters.

Place of Origin

China (made)

Date

1885 (dated)

Artist/maker

Unknown (production)

Materials and Techniques

Knotted woollen pile on cotton warp

Dimensions

Height: 193 cm, Width: 112 cm

Object history note

T.238, 239-1928 are examples of specially designed rugs which wrap around the pillars of temples with a curling dragon design. They were presented in 1885 for use in a Buddhist temple by a Mongol noble named Burintogos, according to the inscription at the top of each rug in Mongol and Chinese. This rug with the Chinese dedication gives a date 120 years earlier (1765), but this thought to be a weaving error.

Registered File number 1928/11150.

Descriptive line

Pillar rug, knotted woollen pile on cotton warp, China, Qing dynasty, Guangxu period, dated 1885.

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Kerr, Rose ed. Chinese art and design. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1991, p. 110, Plate 43.

Materials

Wool yarn; Cotton yarn

Techniques

Knotted pile

Subjects depicted

Dragons; Wave pattern

Categories

Textiles; Buddhism

Collection code

EAS

Download image
Qr_O14510
Ajax-loader