Rugs Tibetan & Himalayan

High and cold, Tibet found a rug for nearly every purpose. Tibetan rugs are knotted with the distinctive Tibetan looped technique in highland wool rich in lanolin, which gives them a dense, glowing pile. Buffered by the Himalaya to the south, weavers made khaden sleeping rugs, saddle rugs with dragon, phoenix and herb motifs, pillar rugs wrapped around monastery columns with dragons or a seated lama, meditation rugs with cloud motifs, and the tiger carpets used by lamas and nobility. Checkerboard and flower designs are older village patterns; modernist pile rugs from Nepal and workshops such as Tufenkian continue the craft.

The wool is springy and matte, in saffron, indigo and apricot. A tiger rug at the foot of a bed, a saddle rug on a bench: Himalayan warmth for a room of stone and wood.