Chinese Rugs

Chinese rugs leave room to breathe, with open fields, restrained colour and symbols like lotus flowers and cloud scrolls set carefully into the space.

Many of ours come from Khotan, an oasis city in Xinjiang on the old Silk Road, where weavers mixed Persian medallions, Central Asian geometry and Chinese symbols into graphic, spacious designs. Antique Peking rugs and runners from Beijing work with a deliberately limited palette, often two main tones, with the round Shou character and lotus motifs placed within open ground. There are also Chinese Aubusson rugs, which bring the soft florals of the French flatweave into a dense hand-knotted pile, and the occasional silk piece.

Because the designs leave so much space, these rugs sit calmly in a room. A Peking runner brings quiet order to a hallway, while a Khotan works well in a living room with simple timber and linen around it.