A 1920's pictorial Khotan vintage rug depicting four ceramic vases filled with flowers on a decorative stand. Now in Uzbekistan, Samarkand was once the gateway to China. It was one of the principal cities, if not the very pivot of the Silk Route. The principal production areas were Khotan and Yarkand and this whole area of East Turkistan produces very distinctive styles the most common design is the pomegranate tree stemming from a vase, an ancient symbol of fertility in the Far East.
