Vintage Chinese five dragon 'Beijing' carpet with luxurious super-soft thick silky pile. This carpet was made circa the mid 1900’s, probably the 1950’s or early 1960’s, and handwoven in, it is assumed, a workshop in the greater Beijing area using an age old Chinese five dragon design format as its theme. That is, a central front facing dragon, while two ‘side on’ or ‘in profile’ sinuous dragons cavort in the clouds above the frothy waves that border both ends. The white colour features in the design appear to be natural undyed wool while the other colours, although of a synthetic nature, are not at all 'harsh' or ‘garish’ but as can be seen by looking at the close-up photos of the back and front, are of a subtle mellow hue. There is negligible pile wear (the previous owner had it hung on a wall) and there are no damages or repairs, and it has been professionally cleaned. Any 'shadows' or darker sections that show in the photos of the 'peach' coloured main-field pile are not dirt or stains, but simply the 'fall' of the silky pile having been brushed in different directions and thus reflecting the light differently. It has cotton warp and weft, the size is 198cm x 137cm (approximately 78in x 54in) and it is not machine made, but handwoven.