Antique rugs of China

Early Ming rugs divide themselves into two classes — those made at the behest of royalty for the private use of princes and sovereigns, and those that were made for ordinary domestic or temple use.

There are fine old silk fabrics with a close-cut pile resembling velvet, which illustrate different methods of weaving—one method being that of making the rug entirely of silk, by tying the knots which make the pile upon a silk warp which is penetrated between each two rows of knots by a silk weft thread.

Another, and the most commonly accepted method, was to make both warp and woof of cotton and only the pile of silk.