CIRCA: 1800’s / 19th C.
An under saddle carpet (makden) with the so-called ‘frog-foot’ motif scattered sparingly throughout a main field separated by a wide cream coloured center trip, an inner border of pearls and an outer border with a simple T meander or ‘running T’ design. All the colours used throughout the carpet are from natural dyes (with the rich red of the main field corner designs being super saturated) and the several shades of blue – from a solid darker blue to various shades of lighter abrashed blue – used throughout the main field are the result of the weaver using very ‘small batch’ indigo dye baths.* The warp and the weft (and pile) are all hand spun wool, the size is 131cm x 57cm and it was made in the mid 1800’s / 19th century. Both ends have been stabilised with a narrow strip of blue cotton cloth sewn on the underside and there are two small old reweaves which are only just discernible on the front side of the carpet, and as is often the custom in Tibet, only two of the (four) girth strap locations have been incised. Overall it is in good condition for its age.
*The use of very small dye bath batches suggests this makden was woven over a period of time in a nomadic setting, with the wool being dyed in very small batches ‘as needed’ to accommodate short weaving periods and / or while on the move (as opposed to in bigger batches in a larger town or workshop setting where larger quantities of wool were dyed and the carpets were woven on a fairly continuous basis).