Lustrous Tibetan warp-faced-back under-saddle carpet (makden) woven in the Wangden valley region of Tibet some time in the mid to latter half of the 1800’s / 19th century. All natural supersaturated dyes - the green and red being striking examples - while a lovely abrashed blue in the border backs an interlinked red yungdrung design (luck bestowing swastikas). As can be seen from studying this saddle carpet closely various shades of dye for the same colour have been used in its construction. This suggest nomadic construction with the wool being dyed in very small batches as the weaver slowly wove the carpet, possibly suggesting in the ‘down-time’ while on-the-move from place to place. An archaic mandala is the center motif, while two yundrungs (swastikas) fill the 'notch' at either end of the center field, which is then encased by an inner pearl border. The very outer felt border - added to many Tibetan carpets for protection - is exposed from use where the red cloth has frayed off the edging over the years, while the center maroon numbu cloth strip is worn away at one ‘end’ - at what would have been the front - where the riders crotch pressed in against the saddle. Surprisingly, this wear in the center nambu cloth exposes an interesting feature of this under-saddle carpet, that is it is not just two sides joined together in the center as is common with under-saddle carpets of this shape, but is one continuous weave left unpiled across the center (for flexibility?), as the long warp threads can be seen to run end to end length-ways under the maroon nambu cloth in the center. note; the two small ‘patches’ near the two ‘steps’ in the length-ways underside are not repairs. They are simply padding reinforcements made with the exact same wool / weave as the rest of the under-saddle carpet itself is woven from / in and were almost certainly put there at the time the carpet was made. a very close look at the top side also shows all original pile over those two areas of reinforcement. Hand-spun very fine wool warp and weft, size 115cm x 64cm (approximately 45.25in x 25,25in). Altogether a beautiful piece with no repairs / alterations, and having been left in it’s ‘original’ condition it would suit a collector.