Oriental Rugs Dictionary
Pillar Rug
Chinese rugs were made to cover furniture or the walls and benches more than the floor. This was particularly true of the long and narrow pairs of carpets designed to wrap around and hang from pillars in Buddhist temples and monasteries. In such pieces motif s were often conceived for vertical reading, with the dragons fragmented across the carpets so that they appear to coil about the pillar. In the example seen below the image represents the Emperor reigning at the center of the universe. Bellow is the underworld, as well as the Aquatic and terrestrial worlds. The celestial world, with its stylized clouds, is inhabited by the dragon and phoenix.
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