CIRCA: late 1800’s
A Tibetan warp-faced-back under-saddle carpet (makden) woven in the Wangden valley region of Tibet some time in the last half of the 19th century. All natural supersaturated dyes, with the green being a striking example, while a lovely abrashed blue in the border backs an interlinked yungdrung design (luck bestowing swastikas) in red. An archaic mandala is the center motif, while two yundrungs fill the ‘notch’ at either end of the center field, which is encased by an inner pearl border. The outer felt border – added to many Tibetan carpets for protection – is exposed where the red cloth has come off the edging from use.
NOTE; the two small ‘patches’ near the two ‘steps’ in the length-ways side are not repairs. They are simply padding reinforcements made with the same wool as the under-saddle carpet itself is woven in and were almost certainly put there at the time the carpet was made (not having been there when it was made we can’t say that with 100% certainty, but can certainly do so with 99% confidence). A very close look at the top side also shows all original pile over those two areas. This under-saddle carpet is also one continuous weave, that is it is not two sides joined together in the center as is common with under-saddle carpets of this shape, but is one continuous piece, as the long warp threads that run end to end length-ways can be seen under the red nambu cloth in the center. ALREADY SOLD.