High-quality Samarkand Khotan Beige, Brown Hand Knotted Wool Rug BB7447 11'8" × 11'9" $40,000

An early 20th century Khotan Samarkand rug having an unusual lozenge lattice formed of brown flowering vines and containing concentric cusped diamond shapes and fleurons within a series of reciprocal stripes.

The antique 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 antique rugs typically are in a long and relatively narrow format with simplistic, spacious designs rendered in 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.