Khotan rug fragment

Khotan is an oasis city on the old Silk Road in what is now the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of western China. Geographically and culturally closer to Central Asia than to Beijing, the city and region have a weaving tradition that goes back several centuries. This piece was once a longer runner and has been reduced to form a seating square. Eight-petaled flowers colored in tones of rose, blue, and cream float against a medium brown ground. A Chinese inspired fret-work guard border is drawn using two tones of rose and is encompassed by a frame of several plain blue, rose, and brown stripes. The outer main border, however, is perhaps the most noteworthy and dynamic formed by reciprocal half flowers mirroring the full floral elements of the field.