200. TAPIS IMPÉRIAL EN SOIE Fin de la Dynastie Qing AN IMPERIAL SILK AND METALLIC THREAD 'LOTUS AND BATS' HALL CARPET Late Qing Dynasty With a gold ground centred on a large lotus flower circled by four bats picked out in blue silk alternating with four smaller lotus flowers, below an additional two bats each flanked by lotus flowers on the upper and lower boders, all against a dense ground of stylised ruyi-shaped clouds picked out in a vibrant orange colour, within a thin diaper border and framed by a keyfret band a five character 'Taihe Dian beiyong' (Great Hall of Supreme Harmony) mark to the upper border. 217cm x 123.5cm (85 3/8in x 48 5/8in) 清晚期 御製絲織金屬綫蝙蝠蓮紋地毯「太和殿備用」款 This carpet belongs to an extensive group of so-called 'palace' or 'hall' carpets woven in silk and precious metallic thread and supposedly made for the various halls and palaces of the Forbidden City during the Qing dynasty. The Taihe dian, The Hall of Supreme Harmony, or throne hall, was the most important of the Three Front Halls in the Forbidden City complex, and was used for observing various rites and conducting a number of important ceremonies including celebrating New Year's Day, the Winter Solstice, the emperor's birthday and the imperial wedding ceremony, as well as issuing proclamations of war and peace and other major rites of state, see Wango Weng and Yang Boda, The Palace Museum: Peking, Treasures of the Forbidden City, New York, 1982, pp.41-44. While a number of silk and metallic thread carpets bearing the same hall mark as the present lot are known, the lotus and bat design is rare, compare a silk and metallic thread carpet without a hall mark, sold Christie's New York, 19 March 2021, lot 748.