Woven Jewels: Tibetan Rugs
from Southern California Collections

Pacific Asia Museum director and curator David Kamansky with tiger rugs

A decision was made to present the material according to visual content; the groupings are handsome and the rugs relate within their sets in an informative way. This arrangement by subject gives the visitor an easy introduction allowing for a direct response to the material; an additional walk through the exhibition can be devoted to observing coloration, format (sleeping rugs, door rugs, pillar rugs are three of many), design elements, and other aspects.

The first group, tiger rugs, includes rugs with complete tiger forms, flayed tiger pelts, and bodiless abstractions of tiger pelts. Some of them are in the orange tones which were made for monastery use or for donation to monasteries.

The next grouping, rugs with geometric designs, will attract viewers who favor contemporary art. In addition to striking graphics, they display the use of exaggerated scale that typifies Tibetan rug design. Many of the conventional flowers and the abstract geometric figures push out of the borderless frame, nonchalantly cutting off part of the design elements on all sides.Other groupings are of rugs with dragons, those with bats, snow lions, and floral motifs.

Only rugs believed to precede the 20th century are dated on their labels. One is dated l9th century or earlier, 18 are l9th century, and 19 are marked l9th-20th century. Some of the older pieces are the most outstanding, often with more lustrous wool and density of color. One of the l9th century pieces, a saddle rug (#30), shows an unusual amount of abrash in its indigo field -- very attractive but perhaps indicating a difficulty in achieving consistent color in the yarn.

The rugs are made for household, monastery, or animal use in a myriad of formats; some have an additional ceremonial function. Three animal rugs in the exhibit seem to be related in a curious way; they were possibly woven as trophies for some sort of competition. One (#79, illustrated) carries the number one, drawn in Tibetan script, in its field, and a saddle rug (#80) shows the numeral one in the field next to a pair of snow lions carrying flags or banners resembling the Union Jack.

The design elements come from many sources distilled over different periods of time. The influence of Chinese silk brocades on many Tibetan rugs has been established as well as the influence of other Chinese art and Chinese iconography. But Bhutanese textile design influences are also present as were Bhutanese textiles in Tibetan monasteries, and there are striking similarities to Turkestani three medallion carpets in several rugs in this exhibit. Many ideas for rugs with Buddhist symbols were transported through Nepal with Eastern travelers, and large groups of Nepalese artists and craftsmen worked in Tibet from the l3th century.1

Dealing with a variety of source material and subject matter, a Tibetan style emerged. The boldness of those rugs having a repeating geometric figure, the vibrant and strongly contrasting colorations and good-natured depiction of the allegorical animals and symbols are uniquely Tibetan. The confident drawing and deft weaving of the abstract tiger pelts indicate that there had been a prior history of weaving the more representational tiger forms.

The particular technique with which Tibetan rugs are woven (the wool is knotted around a rod and later cut to create the loop pile) is now considered to be an ancient one, as early or earlier than the techniques of knotting now commonly used. In that long period of time nomadic and remote Tibetans were wool weaving.

Whether their carpets were predecessors of the older Tibetan carpets we see is not yet known.

Whatever the original sources, Tibetan weavers created a unique panoply of carpet art, beautifully summarized in this exhibit.

An exhibition catalogue is available with an introduction by museum director and curator David Kamansky, essays by guest curator Tom Rutherford, Murray Eiland, Deepak Shimkhada, and Nicholas Wright. Technical analysis of 64 of the pieces is supplied by Gwen Rutherford who also devised the simple hanging system and restored several of the carpets in the exhibit.

1. The Nepalese connections were discussed by Kesang Tashi in Oriental Rug Review 's Tibetan issue (April/May 1 989) as were other aspects of Tibetan weaving

Horse blanket., 4'10"X3'3". The rectangles contain the Tibetan characters for the numeral "1". The horse blanket is used for an animal at rest.

Justin: You were a collector of Chinese carpets. When and how did you shift over to Tibetan carpets?

Rutherford: It seemed a natural step. In searching for Chinese rugs during our travels in India and Nepal, we began to see a great number of Tibetan pieces. At first we more or less ignored them, concentrating on the Chinese. But as we started to really look at the Tibetan rugs, they began to grow on us and we found ourselves gravitating toward them. Although quite different, they are in many respects related to Chinese rugs and so the transition was, for us, an easy one. Our first Tibetan carpet was a saddle rug purchased in San Francisco in 1973, acquired as a curiosity. We did not become serious collectors until ten years later when we began buying in Asia.

Justin: When did you start to go into Tibet?

Rutherford: Our trips into Tibet were in 1986, 1987, and 1988; we've covered only the eastern part of the country where the principal cities are located. The first trip was from Nepal by road, the second from China by road, and the third from Kathmandu by air. David Kamansky, Director of the Pacific Asia Museum and curator of this exhibition, completed his 17th visit to Tibet earlier this year.

Justin: Where have you bought the largest number of carpets?

Rutherford: Most have come from Kathmandu. We were in Nepal prior to our trips to Tibet, and have returned several times since. But it's much more fun to buy in Tibet, to be among the people and to participate in that wonderfully colorful and exciting local scene.

Justin: Do you have a relationship with dealers in Tibet? Are there carpet dealers per se? And how did you find and purchase the older carpets?

Rutherford: There are "dealers" in Lhasa and Gyantse of which I'm aware, and they all sell a variety of other things in additon to rugs. Those that I met in Lhasa had stalls in the Barkhor bazaar, a circular shop-lined street surrounding the Jokhang temple (Tibet's most important Buddhist shrine). Some live in the buildings behind their stalls which front the bazaar, and once they understand what you are looking for they might invite you into their homes to show you other pieces. Since most of these people weren't selling new rugs, locating the older ones was no problem. Communication can be a challenge, but not an insurmountable one. In the exhibit there is a tiger carpet that I found being used as a sleeping rug on a bed in one of the bazaar shops, and the shopkeeper couldn't understand why I kept pointing to it. Finally, I put some money on the counter (probably much more than necessary) and she then realized that I wanted to buy it.

Justin: Do you have a favorite group of rugs, or a favorite rug?

Rutherford: I'm quite fond of dragons, but if I could choose only one piece to take to a desert island it would be the window rug with the two hands-on-hips snow lions holding up a bowl of wish-fulfilling jewels (catalogue #41). It's one of the oldest in our collection and it has that whimsical quality which I think make Tibetan carpets so easy to respond to. They do not take themselves too seriously.

Justin: There seem to be more categories of carpets with more uses than are generally noted.

Rutherford: There are probably many more that none of us have yet seen. A large number of truly unique pieces were woven for special applications, most often having to do with the monasteries for a particular utilitarian or ceremonial purpose. Also, custom carpets were woven for a variety of uses by the upper classes. In this show there are a few unusual items, but most are the more traditional types and sizes: sleeping rugs, sitting rugs, backrest cushion covers, pillow covers, door rugs, saddle rugs, horse blankets, and small trappings such as the triangular forehead ornaments for pack animals. For monastery use there are meditation rugs, throne backs, small pillar-type doorway hangings, and actual pillar rugs.

Justin: There don't seem to be floor rugs among the old pieces. Were there rugs made for the floor before the current period?

Rutherford: Floor sizes were only occasionally made, probably for monasteries or perhaps for government offices, and they are very uncommon. Carpets were not generally used on floors, although one might be put on the floor to present food to guests or in some other social situation. Rugs were often used in layers; sitting rugs were always placed on top of another rug because it was customary for a guest to sit on at least two rugs. The more honored the personnage, the more layers of rugs.

Justin: When the London catalogue, The Tiger Rugs of Tibet, was written it was said that there might not be more than 200 old tiger rugs extant. That was in 1988. Do you think there are more than 200 authentic old Tibetan carpets with tiger figures around now?

Rutherford: Of course there are. We own ten, and it doesn't seem reasonable that I personally could possess 5% of the world's supply of old tiger rugs. Besides, I've seen or know of at least 50 others, and when added to the 108 shown in the Lipton book, that would only leave about 32 unaccounted for!

Justin: George O'Bannon in his commentary in ORR's Tibetan issue (April/May 1989) noted how different Chinese and Tibetan collecting was from the rest of the rug world. Do you find that true; are the concerns of Tibetan collectors different from those of other rug collectors?

Rutherford: As a collector one looks for the very best of its kind, but there are different criteria for evaluating what is best in different categories. One must use a new yardstick for measuring Tibetan rugs, particularly where age and color are concerned. In Tibetan collecting parlance, "old" is pre-1959, and there are very few antique pieces. This fact alone causes many to avoid them. But color, I believe, is the greatest barrier to widespread acceptance from those who are interested in the more traditional rug types. The presence of some of the vivid Tibetan colors in a carpet from any other part of the world would probably cause it to be rejected by a serious collector, myself included. Yet the Tibetan enthusiast must be able to shift aesthetic gears back and forth to render those very same colors acceptable in a Tibetan rug. To some this seems a contradiction, and I can understand why they might feel that way.

Justin: What were the goals for this exhibit?

Rutherford: As with all of their undertakings, the Pacific Asia Museum had the general public in mind rather than any special interest groups. The exhibit makes no claim to be comprehensive (for example, there are no warp-faced back rugs shown), and there was no effort to go outside the Los Angeles area for lenders. Also, there was no attempt to break new ground in terms of scholarship, that was not the purpose here. The object was to reach the public with a readily accessible, enjoyable exposure to an important weaving tradition which has not been widely available.

Justin: The exhibition certainly meets those goals.

Valerie Justin
September 15, l992