Tibetan Pile 'Pillar' Rug with Dragon Motif

A blue dragon climbs a red field toward a fringe of tassels, its whiskers already in the clouds.

This pile 'pillar' rug with a dragon motif comes from Tibet and dates to the 20th century. It is wool. Pillar rugs were generally made to wrap the columns of temples and halls, so that the dragon's body would coil around the post once the edges met. Here the dragon is worked in navy with a fine lattice of scales, its mane and flames in cream and gold. Small clouds drift across the red ground, and a band of mountains and waves rises at the base. It is 3 feet wide and 8 long.

Laid flat, the dragon is merely resting between columns.