A CHINESE SILK CARPET

Herrmann notes of this carpet: “I started off my new business activities in Switzerland in 1995, after leaving Munich, with this remarkable 19th century Chinese silk carpet which I was able to buy from Sandro Mischioff, a large wholesale dealer in Zurich. He told me he had acquired the silk carpet with the cloud lattice design from an embassy in Berne. For me it was like completing a circle in life as I had known Sandro since 1957 when as a young boy I accompanied my father buying tiny silk mats; they were all sold within two weeks.

The six folded cloud lattice motif, based on the regular octagon, meaning the transition point between the two worlds as the radius of the figure (for the circle of the other world) is identical with the linear side length of the figure (representing this world). The basic geometry for the lozenges in the sprandrels at both sides of the gateway, is taken from the angular measure table for the major standstills of the moon. The lozenges which might look a little bit disorganised are in reality modifications of blue/yellow divided moon lozenge. The filling of the lozenges is directed by 14 rectangles in their lower part as expression for a part of the moon path (2x7) and fifteen rectangles for the beginning of the star path (3x5).”