small-luxury-world: Animal designs from China and Tibet

A close friend and I share the passion for antique carpets & rugs from China and Tibet. Animal designs are one of our themes.

I do not aim at presenting a complete collection of realistic and mythological animals here. I rather want to show you a small selection of pieces that might put a smile on your face.

We travel far to find interesting and collectible rugs. Some of the pieces I discover attract our interest not for their rarity but for the charm of their design. We sometimes fall in love with a rug for the sake of the depicted animals or the expression on their face. We try to feel what the weavers felt when they made these rugs. Some of the rugs get nicknames when we discuss them between us, we talk about e.g. the kissing dragons, pregnant goat, chilli dragon or kaput-pup.

We treat these animals almost like ‘pets’ and wouldn’t really be surprised if one day the chilli dragon came over for dinner ;-)

In discussions with others we sometimes face uncomprehending reactions when we refer to a mad, sad or happy animal. Few people seem to pay the same attention to this way of the weavers’ expression as we do.

We believe that much of those rugs charm comes from the way of depicting the animals. This was a way for the weavers to express their personal feelings and freedom in a given canon of patterns.

Sometimes you are enchanted by a rug you wouldn’t normally give a second glance. And the longer you look at it the more you smile. And isn’t it sometimes more important to get a smile on your face than to find the “perfect” piece.

For those for whom “just beauty” is not enough, let me offer some more information on (mythological) animal designs from a variety of well-known sources:

“The Tiger is the symbol of Tibet par excellence and is often portrayed in the rugs used by Lamas and other dignitaries. The tiger, “the variegated” as Milarepa the saint and poet described it, represents courage, boldness and dignity. Temples, valuables and animals are placed under its protection. For man, it is also a sign of the purity of the spirit and, as such, whoever owns its image is also imbued with its meaning. Rugs representing the streaked pelt of the tiger were used as ascetic seats and for meditation. Eberhard had this to say about the tiger: “The tiger was so feared that its very name was taboo and people referred to it as The Great Insect or The King of the Mountain”. Two tigers placed at opposite ends of a carpet also symbolized the duality of the yin-yang principle and were often displayed on horse or travel blankets to bestow protection during the journey and to underscore the importance of their owners.

Tiger skins were worn by Tibetan nobility, after the fashion of warriors. When the king’s tent was set up, his throne was covered with a tiger skin. This pelt was used in ritual dances and officials under the reign of Songtsen Gampo wore vests embroidered with the same motif. Over time, the real pelt was replaced with a hand-crafted representation of its image. It is probably this process which gave the Tibetan rug its function of symbolic representation.

The tiger is one of the four supernatural creatures whose symbolism is rooted in the ancient Chinese astrology and geomancy-based religion. The Tibetans have only retained three out of the four animals belonging to that tradition: the Turquoise Dragon, the Red Phoenix and the yellow Tiger with the striped coat. The Turtle, national emblem of China, has been replaced with the white Snow-Lion who, in turn, has become the national emblem of Tibet.

The Dragon is the “Lord of Universe”, a benevolent, courageous, powerful an noble creature and is represented amidst “Auspicious Clouds” or “Fire Pearls” which grant strength and wisdom. At the start of the spring equinox it ascends to the sky, where it remains until the autumn equinox when it descends into a deep mud pool where it stays immersed until the next cycle. As such, the turquoise or azure dragon represents the energy of the growing light of spring, pointing to the easterly direction of the sunrise and is closely associated with thunderstorms; lightning and thunderbolts come out of its mouth and, when it grasps the pearl between its claws, it summons the dew, the rain or a downpour.

Together with the “fire pearl” or “night-light pearl”, the dragon is the image of thunder with lightning illuminating the dark storm clouds in the sky. The ascent of a dragon or group of dragons is always seen an auspicious sign.

On its own, the dragon is the main subject of the katum rug, on which the design of the body ends at the edge to resume at the other edge, in such a way that the body unfolds when the rug is wrapped around a column.

The Phoenix, though “King of the Birds”, retains a feminine meaning in its union with the Dragon. Together they represent both the balance and rhythm of the universe and the harmonious merging of all conflicting forces, the two poles from which all that exists originates.

The Bat, a homonym for happiness in Chinese, has become to symbolize that state. But the Tibetans who borrowed it have, as in other cases, transformed its meaning to express luck. Bats associated with clouds are “harbingers” of good fortune.”

LA TIGRE E IL FIORE DI LOTO, Rome 2001

“In rugs, dragons are often paired with phoenixes, as they are in Chinese art. Though the Tibetan word for phoenix is close to its Chinese name, the bird has only some of its Chinese associations to Tibetans. Most for example, do not distinguish between male an female phoenixes. Tibetans do share the Chinese belief that the bird is a charm against illness, accident, and misfortune. Parts of its body are also sometimes identified with layers of the universe, the creature as a whole representing the cosmos. To Tibetans the dragon and phoenix may embody opposites, the first being of the sky and the second of the earth, in eternal conflict with each other. But, the story continues, when these two popular animals are typical of folk mythology, and Tibetans could probably add even more interpretations to those given here.

Like the dragon and the phoenix, animals are often associated together in myth as symbols on inherently different, but complementary, forces. Although more common in other media, these menageries occasionally decorate rugs. One of these rugs has been described as a microcosm in which dragons of the clouds, snow lions of the mountains, cranes of the trees, and tigers of the plains roam happily in their respective realms. These animals appear allegorically in the biography of the saint Milarepa and have further significance in other sacred contexts, so the design of that rug, made for a lama, was probably chosen deliberately.”

Temple, Household, Horseback: Rugs of the Tibetan Plateau, Diana k. Myers,
The Textile Museum, Washington D.C., 1984

“The dragons, phoenixes and fo-dogs that initially seemed like crude copies of Chinese figures now appear to belong to a separate aesthetic instead. The Tibetan dragon often lacks the elegant repose and balance of the Chinese creature, but it may carry about it a sense of whimsy and fantasy no less appealing than the more formal Chinese examples. We need not dislike it because it differs from the Chinese model. Indeed, greater familiarity with the Tibetan style has made converts of some rug collectors who began as sceptics. The Tibetan aesthetic carries with it an unpretentious naiveté well exemplified by many charming but vigorous tiger rugs now becoming sought by collectors.”

Woven Jewels, Tibetan Rugs from Southern California Collections,
Pacific Asia Museum, 1992

Will you find your favourite pet?

Take some time to enjoy the pieces on display and tell me which one is your favourite. Please share the feelings you had when you saw it for the first time.