Authentic 19th Century Red Silk Samarkand (Khotan) Rug BB4858 6'6" × 11'6" $26,000

Late 19th Century Silk Samarkand (Khotan) antique rug. Rows of geometric flowers rendered in pastel shades of blue coral and sand on a crisp red field within a linear and geometric border with darker accent colors.

The antique vintage rugs of the oasis towns of East Turkestan are incomparable. These exotic oriental carpets from Kashgar, Yarkand and Khotan in the Chinese occupied Autonomous Region of Sikiang are collectively known as Samarkands. Samarkand and Khotan Rugs typically, they are in a long and relatively narrow format with simplistic spacious designs rendered in a glossy wool, occasionally embellished with richly brocaded silk and metal-thread.

The distinctive and prevailing colorations of lacquer reds, Chinese yellows, heavily influenced by the neighboring countries of China and Turkey, have been produced in this region since at least the seventeenth century. For thousands of years these lands of arid steppes, deserts and brutal mountain ranges were traversed by caravans of merchants and traders from China to Western Europe along the Silk Route.