A Ninghsia carpet, West China

The vinery of the field is similar to that in a lotus flower carpet  dated to the 18th century from an Italian collection exhibited during the 1999 ICOC in Milan, see Concaro, E. and Levi, A., Sovrani Tappeti, Milan, 1999, pl. 147, p. 171.  Here, the field pattern is overlaid with roundels of floral shrubs issuing from rocks that are often the single central focus of smaller rugs, such as a Ch'ien Lung (1736-1796) rug in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, see Dimand, M.S. and Mailey, J., Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1973, cat. no. 208, pp. 340-341.