19th Century Chinese Carpets
Antique Chinese Carpets
It is only in the last few decades that Chinese carpets, previously overshadowed by the enthusiasm of collectors for Persian carpets, have been given the attention they long deserved. While the quality of Chinese carpets declined at the end of the 19th century, in part due to an increasing use of chemical dyes, one of the most appealing characteristics of earlier carpets was the unsurpassed, subtle use of colour.
A full appreciation of Chinese carpets must begin with an appreciation of the role that they played in the household, for they have never been used solely as decorative floor coverings. In northern China in particular, a feature of the average home was the k’ang, a brick or tile platform that was heated from beneath and on which the family would sleep. During the day the family would remove their mattresses and lay the family carpet on top of the k’ang. Since the k’ang was a central feature of the home so too was the carpet. In their service as house warmers, carpets were also hung on the walls. The symbolic motifs on carpets, which rank closely with the use of colours in determining their appeal today, dictated where a carpet would be situated in the home. Carpets with patterns that converged on the centre were placed on the floor; others were used as wall hangings.
The 19th century has been chosen as the point from which to take this brief look at Chinese carpets for with the arrival of chemical dyes the quality of colours in rugs changed completely. Chemical dyes destroyed the sheen and oils in the wool, making it stiff and dry so that the soft modulations of colour attainable with vegetable dyes were impossible to achieve.
The Use of Colour
The earliest carpets known date from about 1600, the time of the Ming Dynasty, and the use of colours was consistent throughout the succeeding two decades or so.
The most widely used colour was blue, derived from the indigo plant which produces shades from pale sky-blue ‘to black. It is possible that the Chinese used blue so much because it did not fade as other colours did, but merely became even bluer. This is useful in determining the age of a carpet, for clear blues suggest a recent carpet, while if all the colours including blue are dim then the carpet has probably been aged artificially.
Blue, though, is rarely used as a ground colour in old carpets, instead brown, white and yellow are used as the grounds for blue patterns, and in particular a soft brown was favoured. Principal shades of brown include fawn, tan, ochre and sand as well as a copper-brown called ku t’ung se. A dark brown was produced using manganese brown, but since this dye is corrosive it gives the effect of incised or punched out patterns. White comes in all shades, while yellow appears in shades from chicken yellow to honey, amber and orange. Most famous of all yellows is Imperial yellow, a pure luxurious colour that was reserved for the use of the court. Mandarin yellow has a touch of orange.
Chinese decorative motifs known as the Four Accomplishments.
There is not sufficient space here to list all the motifs used - books have been written on the subject - but an outline will give the potential collector an indication of the way the Chinese used their motifs.
The borders of very early carpets contain either a meander in the form of a T- or key pattern, swastikas, or what is called the hooked cross motif, which consists of C- or S- forms in continuous lines. The swastika is the symbol for happiness or luck and when it is made continuous it means `ten thousandfold happiness’.
Chinese language characters are used but only three are used symbolically - shou, fu and shuang hsi. Shou, which means long life, is the commonest of the three and it is usually found in stylized medallion form in the centre of the carpet. The character fu, meaning luck, is more common in embroidery than in carpets, possibly because it is difficult to stylize in the same way as shou and is more difficult to knot. Shuang hsi is the name given to a double hsi character, which means wedded bliss. A single hsi is not often used. Carpets with shuang hsi motifs were often given as wedding presents.
Naturalistic motifs are widespread and usually highly stylized. The cloud motif is distinctly Chinese despite comparisons with Turkish or Persian clouds and can be found scattered singly throughout the design or in cloud banks. Mountains and water are always found together, since the Chinese name for ‘landscape’ is shan shui - mountain water. The mountains are always shown emerging from the water. Sea and mountains together symbolize long life and luck. Water is depicted in various forms: multi-coloured semi-circles for calm water, square or triangular shapes with dots above to suggest spray, for rough water.
While human beings and gods rarely appear on carpets because of difficulties in knotting them, animals have a distinctive and treasured place in the repertory. The dragon, lung, is both the best known and most spectacular animal for it has high significance in Chinese religion and philosophy, representing a powerful god and the master of the forces of nature. Not surprisingly, the dragon became the Imperial emblem. In both form and concept the Chinese dragon is very different from the Western dragon, appearing as a reptile-like creature with snake-like body, four legs and a fantastic head. Almost always associated with the dragon is the pearl, chin, which the dragon is constantly striving to reach, for the pearl means perfection. A pair of dragons are often depicted fighting over the pearl. When the dragon was adopted as the Imperial emblem it evolved into two kinds, one with five toes on each foot (the lung dragon) being the Emperor’s motif as well as that of princes of the first and second rank, while the mang dragon with only four toes was used by lesser court officials.
The dragon motif is particularly cleverly used on pillar rugs - long narrow rugs which were used to decorate pillars on festive occasions. When the carpet is viewed flat on the ground, the coils of the beast appear to make little sense, yet when the carpet is wound around the pillar the coils join up and the dragon comes to life. Pillar rugs were usually made in pairs and were favourite gifts.
The phoenix, feng huang, is a composite of several creatures and is different from the apocalyptic beast of Ancient Greece, for in China its colour was a curious red that does not contain any blue and about which there has been much speculation as to its origin. It has been suggested that the carpetmaker was aware of the mellowing influence of time on this colour and may have made it by dyeing the carpet first with a fast yellow and then with a strong red, so that as the red faded the yellow began to show itself.
Black is only used occasionally, while gray is sometimes found in bands running along the outside edge of pre-18th century carpets. Green is very rare until the advent of aniline dyes which produced rather gaudy shades of this colour.
The Chinese were masters in the art of combining colours and, unlike Persian and Caucasian rugmakers, disliked using strong, unrelated colours. Two principles guided them – colour relatedness and colour gradation. Their inclination has been to always use blue motifs on brown grounds or a white and blue, which may have been inspired by Chinese porcelain. This latter combination was popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Pale yellow and blue were often popular as were carpets simply in varying shades of blue.
Carpet Motifs
The carpet designer was fortunate in having a rich heritage of symbolic motifs on which to draw and he gave free rein to his imagination when it came to adapting and combining those motifs. Chinese carpets contain a greater diversity of motifs than any other oriental carpets and are not simply decorative, but have a language of their own.
Decorative motifs. From top: Four classic scrolls, cloud collar or lappet, six cloud scrolls.
appearance heralded a period of good fortune. The creature was a composite of pheasant, swan, crane and mandarin duck and was the symbol of the Empress.
After the dragon, fo dogs are one of the best-known motifs associated with Chinese carpets. In mythology, such dogs, which resemble lions more than dogs, were said to be the companion of the Buddha and to guard Buddhist holy places. The male dog is often depicted playing with a ball, the female with a pup between her paws.
The unicorn, ch’i lin, also differs from the Western image and some authorities feel the Chinese had two varieties, one with the body of a stag with a long straight horn and the other with the body of an ox and a short, curved horn. The ch’i lin was said to live a thousand years and appear at the birth of sages. Genuine stags, lu, also appear as motifs, often holding the sacred fungus, ling chih, which can bestow immortality, or with a stork, a symbol of long life.
Perhaps the most frequent animal to appear is the bat, fu, which since its Chinese name sounds exactly like the symbol fu, also means luck. The butterfly appears on carpets from South China instead of the bat. Other animal motifs include fishes, usually the carp, the horse, rabbit, hare and tiger.
The commonest floral motifs are the lotus, peony and chrysanthemum. The lotus is both the symbol of purity and summer and, while they are sometimes difficult to distinguish on carpets from chrysanthemums, can be recognized by their accompanying seed pods. Other floral motifs include plum blossoms, bamboo and peach blossoms, although they are somewhat rarer than the previous three. The only fruits to appear as motifs are the peach, pomegranate and the citron, for each of these three has a meaning unlike other fruits. The peach, food of the gods, symbolizes longevity, the pomegranate signifies abundant male offspring, while the citron is a symbol for happiness since its rind is supposed to develop into petals resembling the classic position of the Buddha’s hand.
The two great religions of China, Taoism and Buddhism, are also represented on carpets in the motifs of the Eight Symbols of Taoism and the Eight Symbols of Buddhism. The former are a flower basket, flute, lotus, bamboo clappers, bamboo tube and rod, crutch or staff and gourd, sword and fan. The Buddhist symbols are the canopy, two fish, urn, lotus, conch shell, umbrella, knot of destiny and the wheel of law. Another group of Taoist motifs are the Eight Immortals who were supposed to live in Paradise and represent practitioners of various trades. Other groups of motifs include the Eight Precious Things and the Four Gentlemanly Accomplishments in antique Chinese carpets.