Dragon Rugs: Dragon Carpet Fragment Lot 78 Dr. Jon Thompson Collection

This is approximately the lower half of a 'middle phase' dragon carpet. The vigorous dragons have multiplied and come to occupy successive compartments on the long axis of the carpet, displacing the hsieh-chai or flaming lion in combat with the ch'i-lin . The other members of the menagerie found in the earliest carpets have not entirely disappeared for a vestige of the mandarin duck's striped wings can still be seen disappearing at the bottom. Green ground dragon carpets are rare. Two closely related pieces are the green ground carpet belonging to Howard T. Hallowell III illustrated in color in Ellis, Charles Grant: Early Caucasian Rugs, Textile Museum, Washington, D. C., 1975 plate 10, and another green ground carpet, almost the pair, in the Turk ve Islam Eseleri Milzesi ' Istanbul, published Yetkin, Serare: Early Caucasian Carpets in Turkey, London 1978, vol. 1, pl. 17.

Sotheby's Fine Oriental and European Carpets

April 15, 1993, New York City

Est. $8,000-10,000

Literature: Bennett, Ian: II Tappeto Orientale dal XV al XVIII Secolo, Eskenazi Milano, 198 1, p. 82.

Provenance: The Dr & Mrs. Jon Thompson Collection

*Graphic Image Courtesy of Sotheby's