CIRCA: 1800
A rare intact ‘set’ of Qing Dynasty matching saddle carpets, i.e. for under and above the saddle, made in the Ningxia region of China sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century (i.e. circa 1800). While these carpets are usually made as a set like this, they are more often than not broken up into separate pieces over the years somewhere along the ‘supply chain’, and sold off individually. To have such an old and intact set is truly rare. The warp and weft are cotton, the colours – consisting of varying shades of gold / yellow and blue – are from natural dyes, while the white is from un-dyed wool. On either side of the main field there is a central floral medallion surrounded by flower arrays and then enclosed by an inner border of pearls, while the main outer border has a simple diamond shaped flower pattern. There are wear holes in the under saddle piece as can be seen in the photo, while the above saddle piece also shows wear through the center and a small piece missing out an end border, all commensurate with being both loved and well used over the years. This is a rare matched saddle carpet set that would suit a collector, and of a kind that is rarely seen on the market today.
A similarly coloured Ningxia under saddle carpet with a vaguely similar main field can be see on page 96, plate 7.14, in the book Dragon and Horse by Koos de Jong.