2. Right: Portrait of a Lady, China, 18th or 19th century. 0.93 x 1.66m (3'1" x 5'5"). Private collection, London.

3. Below: Carpets with floral design including (left), a fragment with lotus, peonies, chrysanthemums and butterflies, Ningxia, second half of 17th century, 1.36 x 2.30m (4'6" x 7'7"), private collection and (middle), a fragment with butterflies and lotus blossoms, Ningxia, ca. 1720. 1.17 x 1.88m (3'10" x 6'2"), private collection, Ticino, and (right), carpet with peonies and lotus blossoms, Ningxia, ca. 1650, 1.94 x 2.59m (6'4" x 8'6"), private collection, Ticino

another matter. What may well be the earliest Chinese evidence to date is in the Orient Stars Collection, a fragment of a carpet made between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD somewhere in Central Asia or northwestern China. Later, in various paintings of the Tang period (618-907), there are clear depictions of carpets. But it was only with the expulsion of the Mongols from China by Zhu Yuanzhang, who took the name Hongwu, and the beginning of the Ming dynasty (13681644) that the restoration of the Chinese imperial tradition began. Palaces were built, first in Nanjing and then – following the relocation of the capital – in Beijing where, in 1421, construction started on the fortified complex known as the Forbidden City. For more than five hundred years, without interruption, it would house the emperors who occupied the throne of the Celestial Empire. From the outset, the floors of the main halls in the palace were covered with specially made pile carpets, partly for showbut also for practical reasons, as northern Chinese winters can be very severe. And although the Forbidden City acquired new palaces and some of the emperors undertook renovations over time, most of the large palace carpets remained in situ without suffering any great damage. Probably fewer than six hundred ‘classical’ Chinese carpets and fragments have survived to the present day. Of these, around a hundred are kept in the storerooms of the Palace Museum (the Forbidden City’s current designation), while another thirty or so are divided between the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

Maria Schulz

CLASSICAL CHINESE CARPETS

HALI 144 I 77