Kansu / Gansu Rugs

Kansu rugs, also written Gansu, are hand knotted wool pile carpets from Gansu province in northwest China, the Silk Road corridor between the Chinese weaving centres and East Turkestan.

We hold only a handful at any time, so we describe them from the pieces themselves rather than from the literature. Ours date from circa 1850 to 1890. The palette is coral, salmon and pink on half of them, with ivory, blue and red on one each. The drawing is most often an allover design, floral or geometric in equal measure, with a stylized medallion on a minority; birds, protective symbols and a fretwork border each appear on some. Half are scatter size and the rest room size or runner, and two are woven square. All six Kansu rugs we currently hold are nineteenth century wool pile, coral leads on three of the six, and per square foot they run about 1.22 times antiques of the same area and period. Our antique Baotou, Mongolian and Kansu rugs guide measures them beside their Baotou and Mongolian neighbours.