Mongolian Pictorial Pile Rug with Landscape Motif

A rug you could get lost in, with a gate tower on hand for directions.

This pictorial pile rug with a landscape motif comes from Mongolia and dates to the late 19th century, in wool. Knotted rugs from this part of Asia furnished homes and halls, and pictorial scenes turned a floor covering into something closer to a painting. Here dark blue mountains rise from a sand-colored valley under a nearly black sky. A tiered tower stands on a wall at upper left, a small lit house sits by a tree, and a bridge crosses a stream. Four feet wide and about five and a half long.

Nobody appears to be home. The lights are on, though.