A RUG, a semi-antique Xinjiang (Sinkiang), China, ca 128,5 x 70 cm.
A dark blue melange ground with a flower medallion, four medallions with calligraphy, two large stylized flowers and corner ornaments in light blue and ivory. The inscriptions: 和实纪念 (A present for harmony and truth). A dark blue main border with stylized flowers and symbols.
Some wear, slightly dirty, insignificant stains. The sides and ends have fold wear, one end is reduced.
Provenance
General Ma Chung-Yin (Ma Zhongying 马仲英 / 馬仲英), also referred to as the "Big Horse", was of the Hui people and a Chinese Warlord during the 1920s-1930s in Xinjiang. To his officers, he ordered rugs in the bazaar in Xinjiang, all characterized by a medallion, four letters of writing (A gift for harmony and
truth) and two floral ornaments. The Swedish explorer and author Sven Hedin depicted the urgency of General Ma Chung-Yin's troops to sell their rugs, after adversities on the battlefield in 1934, in the book "
The flight of "Big Horse";: The trail of war in Central Asia
" (1936). Several of the officers made changes to the rugs after General Ma Chung-Yin's fall so that they could be sold more easily without being identified as the losing party.
Literature
Compare with Hali Magazine, issue 44, April 1989, pages 16,17.