This circa-1940 vintage Samarkand rug features a unique landscape design of pine forests silhouetted against a backdrop of mountain ranges, stylized and rendered in brown, beige, and orange. A lake, or possible forest clearing, is created through abstract stripes in the same color scheme. The vintage carpets from Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan in the Chinese occupied Autonomous Region of Sinkiang are collectively known as Samarkands – lands of arid steppes, deserts, and mountain ranges traversed for thousands of years by caravans of merchants and traders from China to Western Europe along the Silk Route. Rugs from this region are typically rendered in glossy wool, occasionally embellished with richly brocaded silk and metal thread. Unlike Persian rugs with their reds and blues, Samarkand antique carpets have soft colors with startling additions: magenta with acid green, peachy beige with brown, saffron yellow with lacquer red, bone with brown or slate blue.