AN IMPERIAL CUT VELVET AND METALLIC-WRAPPED THREAD KANG CARPET QING DYNASTY, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

formed from two rectangular panels joined down the middle, the center decorated with a lattice medallion enclosing a floret, surrounded by four peony blossoms and scrolling leaves with angular archaistic dragons in the corners, enclosed within an angular scroll border, surrounded by a band of dragons confronted on flaming pearls, the back lined with yellow cotton tabby

A kang carpet of almost identical design and dimensions is in The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, illustrated in Imperial Silks: Ch'ing Dynasty Textiles in The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, vol. II, Minneapolis, 2000, no. 542, where it is noted that such carpets were used throughout the residential quarters of the Forbidden City.

Silk pile cut velvet appears to have been available in China from at least the beginning of the 16th century, and where made in small quantities at factories in Changzhou and Nanjing as tribute to the court.