An antique Baotou rug, northern China, late Qing dynasty, circa 1900. c. 178x90 cm.

Decorated with a carp leaping up through fierce waves transforming into a dragon.

Alkuperä - Provenienssi

From the Collection of Johan Almqvist (1940-2024). Johan spent his early years in various countries and learned many languages thanks to his father, Karl Fredrik Almqvist (1906-1982), who was a Swedish diplomat. Johan had a passion for art and travel early on. In the early 1960s, as one of his first jobs as a free-lance journalist, he traveled to the Middle East where his interest in Persian ceramics and collecting started.

He then came to be based in Japan, still as a free-lance journalist for all the major Scandinavian Newspapers as well as Springer (Die Welt and Zeitung), Swedish Television, Svensk Radio and Radio Luxembourg. He covered a large part of Asia, including The Philippines, Korea, and Vietnam.

1974 he was hired by Beijer Invest to be based in Japan.

Muut tiedot

Lǐ yuè lóngmén” (鲤跃龙门): The Carp Leaps Over the Dragon Gate is one of the most enduring idioms in Chinese culture. It expresses the idea that perseverance and effort can transform the ordinary into something extraordinary, a lesson deeply rooted in Confucian, Daoist, and folk traditions.

According to tradition, a carp that could swim upstream and then leap the falls of the Yellow River at Dragon Gate (Longmen) would be transformed into a dragon. This motif symbolizes success in the civil service examinations.

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