Old Chinese rugs are light and delicate, with lovely muted colors. They have beautiful sky blues, silver blues and gray blues, many whites, ivories and beiges. Tawny yellows are common. The reds are never tinged with blue.
They are always the "fruit" reds softened with yellow—pomegranate, persimmon, apricot and peach—not prune, grape or plum. Some natural colored wools were used and the undyed hair of the camel, goat or yak
Even before the ubiquitous aniline dyes were brought to China about 1875, some of their vegetable dyes were very fugitive. If you part the pale grayed-beige pile of an antique rug, you may be surprised to find a glowing apricot color on the yarn that has been hidden from the light.
The heavy blues and purple reds of present-day Chinese rugs are never found in old ones.
