6' x 9' Chinese Needlepoint Tapestry Rug | Monkey & Flowering Vine Design | Ivory & Moss Green

This is a hand-stitched needlepoint tapestry rug, 6' x 9', worked entirely in wool over a cotton canvas foundation, with six gold-brown monkeys climbing through a flowering vine across an ivory ground. Needlepoint is a different craft from knotted pile: there is no nap to walk down, the surface is flat and firm like fine canvas work, and the drawing can be shaded almost like painting, which is exactly how the monkeys get their soft faces and striped fur. The piece is recent, in perfect condition with no wear, and it is finished with a narrow plain moss green border that frames the whole scene. Among 6x9 Oriental rugs this one is bought for its personality rather than for a formal medallion layout, and it works as happily hung on a wall as it does on the floor. Every rug we ship carries our certificate of authenticity confirming that it is genuinely handmade.

Design and Motifs

The design is a borderless-feeling all over pattern of thin brown vines that wander the full 6' x 9' field, sprouting long ribbed banana leaves, oak-shaped leaves, feathery fern fronds and curling tendrils. Six monkeys inhabit it: two seated upright on vine branches holding a round red fruit, two reaching upward with both arms, and two draped head-down along the upper branches with their tails looped behind them. Their tails are drawn as single sweeping brown lines, which is the detail that gives the whole composition its movement. Between them the vine carries 5 petal pink blossoms, small blue star-shaped flowers, pink clover-like buds, apricot pineapple cones and clusters of blue and red berries. Nothing repeats in strict mirror symmetry, so the eye keeps travelling. The field stops at a plain narrow moss green outer band with no secondary guard stripes, a chinoiserie convention that keeps all the attention on the scene rather than on the frame.

The Ivory, Green and Gold Palette

The ground is a warm undyed ivory, closer to oatmeal than to white, which is why the rug reads as soft rather than stark in a bright room. Green does the heavy lifting and it is used in at least 4 distinct values: a deep forest green on the shaded sides of the banana leaves, a mid leaf green on the fern fronds, a yellow-toned chartreuse on the small sprigs, and a muted olive moss on the outer border band. The monkeys are shaded from pale wheat through tan to a darker caramel brown, with cream faces and fine dark outlines around the eyes and mouth. Flowers supply the accents: rose pink and raspberry on the open blossoms, a paler shell pink on the clover buds, cornflower blue on the small stars and berries, and touches of apricot and coral on the fruit. The dyes are gentle rather than saturated, so the palette sits comfortably with painted woodwork, rattan, linen upholstery and natural wood floors.

Chinese Needlepoint Workmanship

China has been the main source of fine hand-stitched needlepoint for decorative work of this kind for decades, taking up a tradition that began with European tapestry and Aubusson-style floor coverings and adapting it to chinoiserie subjects such as this monkey and vine scene. The work is done stitch by stitch in wool through an open cotton canvas, and the quality marker is stitch count and consistency: the tighter and more even the stitching, the finer the shading the weaver can achieve. On this piece the gradation across a single monkey's back and the clean curve of each tail show a high and steady count, and the reverse, visible in the fold and tag photos, is neat with no gaps or pulled canvas. Because the surface is flat with very low relief, a handmade Oriental rug of this construction suits dining areas and sunrooms where chairs need to slide, and it hangs flat and square if you choose to display it as a tapestry panel instead.