Mongolian Pictorial Pile Rug with Landscape Motif

A whole landscape, boat included, on a rug you could cross in three steps.

This pictorial pile rug with a landscape motif comes from Mongolia and dates to the late 19th century, woven in wool. Weavers in Mongolia worked in close contact with Chinese taste, and scenic rugs like this one borrow from landscape painting, probably for use as seat covers or hangings. Blue mountains rise behind a pale river. A small boat rests on the water, and a hut and two broad trees stand on one bank, with a walled gate on the other. It is under four feet wide and a little over six long.

The boat appears to be going nowhere, at a comfortable pace.