This early 20th-century Chinese Art Deco rug features a boldly imaginative garden landscape rendered in a vivid, unconventional palette of chartreuse green, cranberry, and shades of indigo. At its center, a tranquil pond scene is framed by whimsical land outcroppings, with a solitary boat drifting between two monumental stylized scholar's rocks—each connected by graceful bridges. The composition draws the eye upward to a surreal mountain rendered in chartreuse and indigo, set against a softly glowing violet sky. Unlike many Art Deco rugs of the period, which often favored floral sprays and geometric borders, this example embraces a painterly, almost narrative quality—blending traditional Chinese symbolism with modernist abstraction. The scholar’s rocks nod to intellectual contemplation, while the fantastical landscape invites the viewer into a dreamlike world. Finished with a restrained gray taupe border, this rug balances eccentricity with elegance—a unique expression of Chinese Deco artistry at its most imaginative.
