An unusual Khotan dragon rug, East Turkestan, circa 1800

A Ninghsia kang rug such as the example illustrated in Larsson, Lennart, Carpets from China, Xinjiang and Tibet, London 1988, pl. 41. p. 42, depicting sinuous five-clawed dragons with front-facing eyes amongst cloud scrolls, would have provided the inspiration for this unusual Khotan example with its charmingly naive and almost comical dragons.