CIRCA: 1920’s
A Tibetan khaden, or ‘bed size’ carpet, featuring six bats – symbols of happiness, good luck and longevity – arrayed around two central lotus flowers on a beautifully saturated rich-red background with a lovely abrash. The wide main border is of the ‘section’ or cartouche type, with floral arrangements in the individual cartouche’s. A geometric fretwork design fills in the space in the rest of the border, and star-like floral emblems anchor the four corners. The warp is cotton and the weft is wool, while the red coloured narrow outer border mimics the oft seen red cloth borders found on carpets from Tibet. The colours are very ‘solid’ and appear to be all natural, even the pink, and there are no colour runs or signs of dye fade between the front and back. There is a small area of wear confined to the center of the carpet but does not extend beyond there. It is a very solid piece with rich saturated natural dyes, a very very nicely abrashed center field and is overall in very good condition.