THE EYRIE-ROCKEFELLER `BUDDHIST LION’ CARPET

The Eyrie-Rockefeller carpet belongs to a small group of eighteenth century `Buddhist lion’ carpets that display a central medallion with axial points and pinched corners containing two circling `Buddhist lions’ around a single brocade ball. In the Ming period, circling `Buddhist lions’ can be found on carpets, but it isn’t until the Kangxi period (1662-1722) that one finds circling `Buddhist lions’ around a brocade ball contained within a medallion.
There are six known examples from the Kangxi period with similar pinched central medallions providing the prototype for the Eyrie-Rockefeller carpet, the most famous and closely related example is in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and originally in Louis Comfort Tiffany’s collection (M. S. Dimand and Jean Mailey, Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1973, p. 315, fig. 282).
Until now, this carpet was unknown and unpublished and not mentioned in Michael Franses’ seminal book Lion-Dogs Hundred Antiques Classical Chinese Carpets I (London, 2000). At the time, he notes that there are only eight 'Buddhist lion' carpets from the early 18th century, however, with this recent discovery Franses plans to include this carpet in his forthcoming book on Chinese carpets.