A Ninghsia seat cover, West China,

This Kangxi period seat cover displays a complex multi-level pattern, with a grid of overlapping square compartments formed by wide and narrow bands and filled with minor motifs. This is then overlaid with a diagonal lattice of solid bands which form stars and cruciform-shapes where they pass through the compartment intersections. The design appears to be based upon an early Chinese brocaded silk pattern and is seen on two circular Kangxi period carpets published as Sotheby's London, 16 October 1996, lot 144 and Christies, New York, 17 October 2002, The Property of a European Collector, lot 56. For other related carpets see: König, Hans and Franses, Michael, Glanz Der Himmelssöhne, Kaiserliche Teppiche Aus China 1400 - 1750, Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Köln, (Ex. Cat.), London, 2005, pp. 158-8, 'The Battilossi Gitterteppich', no. 58; Herrmann, Eberhart, Asiatische Teppich- Und Textilkunst, Band 3, Munich, 1991, no. 74 and a fragment sold at Sotheby's New York, 15 December 1996, lot 180 (unillustrated).