Q I bought a Tibetan chest for my home and want to match it with a Tibetan carpet. Is it true there are problems with authentication and dating?
WHAT THE EXPERT SAYS:
Stephen McGuinness is managing director of Plum Blossoms Gallery and an avid collector of Tibetan carpets. He says old Tibetan carpets exist, but that 'we can't in fact be definitive about their age'.
'The earliest recorded Tibetan carpet was collected by William Woodville Rockhill, who was active in collecting ethnographic materials in Tibet in the late 1800s. He presented a piece to the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, known as the Rockhill Carpet.'
McGuinness says it was assumed to be a new carpet. 'Just based on that, we can say this type was definitely being made in the second half of the 19th century.'
However, carpets from the first and second centuries have been excavated in Xinjiang province. 'The tradition of carpets in Central Asia, in Tibet, has got to be ancient,' he says. 'The people's lifestyle supports it.' But it's hard to be sure.