Research on a separate project this week brought this wonderful tiger rug back into my purview. The simplicity of the design evokes the back of a tiger, yet the stripes also dissolve into what looks like a topographic map. Beyond its aesthetic appeal, the tiger carries a symbolic resonance that, for me, enriches the rug further. Associated with fearlessness and spiritual protection, tiger rugs were used as meditation mats by lamas and monks, whose tantric practice demonstrated the mastery of calm over fear and ego. The tiger rug ultimately embodies authority and transformation through meditation.
Tibetan Rugs The Rudi Molacek Collection: Part 1 & 2. Available at the HALI Bookshop
Tiger rug, Tibet, late 19th century. 0.86 x 1.50 m (2'10" x 4'11"). Rudi Molacek Collection
We have published it several times, most recently in one of our books I was delighted to work on, Tibetan Rugs: The Molacek Collection (2023). It appears in Part One of the two-volume set (pl. 1.56, pp. 154–155, cat. 1.146), where the collector reflects on missing the chance to buy it when it appeared at Christie’s in 2014, and on acquiring it some time later from the Milanese dealer David Sorgato.
