The design in rug No. 8965 suggests the myths and legends of China con-nected with the sacred mountain rising from the waves, and has to do entirely with native design without outside influence of any kind whatever.
The story of the sacred mountain lends itself to the imagination of the Chinese artist in whatever method of expression he adopts. In the olden days this great mountain was considered the God of the Tartars.
The Sacred Mountain of China, as it appears in ornament, is mythological, for while that land abounds in mountain peaks of interest, it is to the Mountain in design that allusion is here made.
At the center of all things it arose from the ocean of eternity. It had to do with elemental conditions and was the first material manifestation when all was void.
The mountain in Mongolian ornament is often pictured as having five peaks, sometimes only three. As an emblem in the hand of the Pearly Emperor and the Taoist priest, it is represented as a single peak, as is also the case when the symbol is held by Confucius.
This emblem, together with the sceptre and the fungus, have become known and verified features in Chinese ornament
