Hand-Knotted Tibetan Khaden Rug | Autumn Garden Botanicals

This rug presents a lively and intricately orchestrated composition, distinguished by the unusual and repeated depiction of a seeded fruit motif, most plausibly the pomegranate. Long revered across Central Asia, the pomegranate carries connotations of fertility, abundance, and regeneration, its many seeds symbolising prosperity and the continuity of life.

These fruit forms are set within a dense and exuberant field of floral rosettes and stylised blossoms, creating a richly decorative surface that balances symbolic intent with visual pleasure. The composition unfolds without rigid symmetry, yet maintains a cohesive rhythm, suggesting a workshop tradition where design conventions were confidently adapted and reinterpreted.

A particularly noteworthy feature lies in the subtle chromatic modulation of the wool. The weaver has employed two differently dyed yarns, plied together within individual knots, producing a softly mottled or abrash-like effect. This technique lends the surface a gentle vibrancy, allowing colours to shift and shimmer with light, and adding depth to what might otherwise be a flat decorative field.

Such a method is more commonly associated with later workshop production, where technical experimentation and aesthetic refinement were more deliberately pursued, as opposed to the more straightforward palette application of earlier village weavings.

Referenced from "Dream Weavers - Textile Art of the Tibetan Plateau, Pages 72 & 73, Plate 12."

Age: Late 19th to early 20th century
Condition: Very well preserved overall, with even wear consistent with age and no structural issues or repairs
Warp: Z 2 S ivory wool + brown with white plied
Weft: 1 shed ivory wool
Knots: 3 ply yarn, wool
8h x 5v: 40 kpsi
Colours (6): Cinnabar red — coral tones / warm terracotta — russet / soft apricot — peach / ivory — cream / celadon — turquoise accents / touches of muted sage — blue-green
Dimensions: 92 cm x 169 cm (36.2 in x 66.5 in)