Tibetan saddle rug

This colorful saddle rug from Tibet dates to the late 19th or, at the very latest, early 20th century. The colors are all derived from natural dyes, with an attractive ‘abrash’ or color change in the madder red ground. Interestingly, the weaver chose to place the butterfly seen in either half on the cusp of that color change, a visual trick that provides the illusion of three dimensional depth. The border pattern includes a commonly seen scrolling vine and tendril motif with auspicious attributes featured in the four corners. The central medallion on each side is one often encountered in rugs from this period, possibly derived from or influenced by Chinese textile art. The central panel in blue is elegantly drawn with attractive curvilinear motifs that are never easy to execute within this medium of working with the Tibetan knot. Given the condition is near perfect and two of the openings or ‘holes’ in this saddle rug are left unused with original warp and weft still intact. It is through these opening where leather straps would be used to attach the saddle (placed on top of the weaving) running under the belly of the horse; it was apparently never used.