In keeping to the five periods in the classification of Chinese rugs, it is possible to describe with a certain amount of accuracy the designs that are most often found in them.
The field in many early Ming domestic products, in which the color tones are low and harmonious, carries an all-over design built upon the regular arrangement of well known and symbolic forms.
The Joo-e often forms the design at the top, bottom and sides of spaces eight or ten inches square, the centers of which are filled with bats, peaches, or signs of longevity, happiness, or good luck.
Octagon forms are sometimes spread over the entire field of a rug, carrying alternately coiled archaic dragon forms and some symbolic fruits.
This repeat design is somewhat monotonous, at the same time in no other Chinese rugs are the results more harmonious and suggestive of native thought.
