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Greatly appreciate help with translating these 5 characters on a Chinese carpet.

Reading from right to left, it could be "永寿宫" (Palace of Eternal Longevity) something "用" use ..... but then again, it could also be my imagination and limited Chinese reading ability running wild :-).

Thanks much for the support!

This design, which I believe is part of the decoration, is called a 'swastika' or 'wan' fret, consisting of linked Chinese 'wan' characters, meaning 'eternal' and constituting a wish for long life. See example below:

卍卍卍卍卍卍卍卍卍卍卍卍卍卍卍

These swastika forms are Buddhist symbols and not the same as the despised one associated with nazism.

Best regards,

Bill H.

Appreciated the comment on the ornate border and explanation. Thank you Bill!

That said, the help I need is with the translation of the five characters that are woven into the carpet border .... on the dark blue edge just below the fringe.

Any help very much appreciated! Thanks :-)

Goodness, I scrolled right past the fact that you hadn't already fathomed that line, which did contain everything you surmised except the character 'yu' (御) for 'Imperial', to wit:

永安宮御用 (Yong'an gong yu yong), which is translatable as 'For Imperial use in Yong'an Palace'.

Best I can tell from Wikipedia.org, the Yong'an Palace in modern Xi'an, (present name of ancient Chang'an) was built in the early Tang dynasty and later renamed several times, beginning with Daming (Great brilliance) palace. The palace complex was used by Tang emperors for more than two centuries and is now a World Heritage site.

The other Yong'an of any note is a Municipality in west central Fujian province, but I'm unaware of any imperial connection there.

All things considered, I believe the marking may be apocryphal and as such, still decorative in nature.

Best regards,

Bill H.

So much appreciate the help Bill H.! Thank you very much!

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