Dating Chinese Art Deco Rugs
Chinese Art Deco rugs began to be woven around the turn of the twentieth century. These experimental rugs (before 1920) were probably woven in the traditional Chinese format in the floppy Beijing weave, but there may have been some produced in Tientsin with that region’s distinctively dense and heavier weave. These rugs were largely intended for the Western market and the colors were likely compatible with the richly colored silks and velvets of the Victorian period.
By the 1930′s, the American market wanted simpler floral designs in more pastel or lighter colors. The borders were also dropped, and the “corner floral” design became popular. In the 1940′s, deeper richer colors became popular again, but for the most part, the simple corner floral designs remained. Also in the 1940′s, more French Floral designs became popular.
Early Chinese rugs are not carved, although they might be “incised” along the edge of a design. By the 1940′s, deep thick carving became popular, and these rugs more closely resemble Chinese rugs from the 1980′s.
A finished edge called the selvage is added by the weaver while the rug is still on the loom. Early Chinese rugs have a white cotton selvage. By the 1930′s and 1940′s, many rugs were finished with a colored wool selvage that matched the wool pile along the edge of the rug.
Chinese weaving of rugs for the Western market reached its peak in the economic boom of the 1920′s, slowed during the Great Depression, and then picked up again in the 1930′s until World War II. Production was disrupted in 1937 by Japan’s invasion and occupation of Northern China, including the blockage of the port of Shanghai. Limited production was resumed after the war, but by 1949, the Communist Revolution in China was complete and China was for the most part closed to the West. Chinese rugs for the Western market were not made again in commercial quanities until the early 1970′s when the Nixon Administration reestablished diplomatic relations with the Chinese and resumed international trade with Beijing, making all things Chinese fashionable once again.
p4A.com acknowledges Allan Arthur Oriental Rugs of Atlanta, Georgia, http://www.artdecorugs.com, for much of the material in this reference note.