Tiger Rug

A tiger rug brings the animal down to the floor, and the designs in this collection draw it in very different hands: spread flat across a colored ground in the Tibetan manner, cut to the outline of a cartoon tiger, framed in a round vintage badge, or walking out of a black night as a white tiger. The range runs from large rectangular rugs and round rugs to small mats in compact sizes.

The Tibetan-style tiger rug on green and blue

Some of the most striking pieces follow the layout of the traditional Tibetan tiger carpet: a whole tiger laid out flat as if seen from above, legs reaching to the four corners, head at one end and tail curled at the other. The Green Tiger Rug sets that figure on a deep forest-green ground. Its orange body is crossed with black stripes and marked with brown spirals on the shoulders and flanks, a dotted band runs along each side, the claws are tipped in pink and the face looks up with its whiskers spread. It is listed in three sizes, small, medium and large, given in inches on the product page, and the photo shows it laid in front of a gray sofa.

The Tibetan Tiger Rug Blue repeats the same tiger on a deep royal blue ground, in a single 7' x 5' size. The change of background shifts the character of the design more than one might expect: on green the orange feels earthy and warm, while the blue makes it brighter and more graphic.

What the tiger meant on a Tibetan carpet

Tiger carpets have a long history in Tibet. Weavers made them in many versions, from realistic pelts with the head and paws in place to abstract fields of stripes, and they are traditionally associated with the meditation seats of monks and lamas. In Tibetan Buddhist imagery the tiger skin is often read as a sign of fearlessness and protection, which helps explain why these rugs were so prized. The spirals on the designs here echo that old visual language. Our article on Tibetan tiger rug meaning follows the history and the symbolism in more depth.

Cartoon tigers and rugs for children

At the playful end of the range, the Cartoon Tiger Rug is cut to the shape of the whole animal: a flat tiger with four cream paws stretched out, a mustard-yellow body crossed by bold black stripes, and a small round face with wide eyes and dotted cheeks at one end. It comes in yellow or orange, in sizes from 80x120cm up to 200x300cm, so the same cheerful tiger can cover a corner or most of a floor. Other designs carry names that point to a nursery or a child's room, from baby mats to rugs for kids, and the range also includes a tiger-face rug with round ears and a wide smile.

Round rugs, full scenes and shaped outlines

The shapes vary as much as the drawings. Rectangular rugs leave room for a full scene, as on the White Tiger King Rug, where a white tiger with black stripes and pale blue eyes walks straight toward the viewer across a black ground scattered with gold specks, its tail curling behind. It comes in 91x152cm, 122x183cm and 152x244cm.

Round rugs frame the tiger as a medallion. The Vintage Tiger Rug shows a detailed tiger face looking straight out from a beige roundel edged with stars, with the words Born to Be Wild set in an arc beneath it and a distressed, weathered finish like an old badge. It is sized from 40cm to 200cm across. Shaped rugs follow the outline of the tiger itself, either as a cartoon or in the flat, spread-out pose of the Tibetan designs, one of them edged with a border of colored diamond motifs.

Small mats in two sizes

Many of the smaller rugs come in two compact sizes, 60x40cm and 80x50cm, and a few in 60x40cm alone. Their titles point to the subjects: sleeping, yawning and bathing tigers, white Siberian tigers, Bengal tigers and cubs. At that scale a tiger rug works as a mat by a door, in a reading corner or beside the bed, with the portrait facing up where it is seen every day.

Orange, white and colored grounds

Classic orange and black still lead the range, from the Tibetan designs to a round rug covered in nothing but sketched black stripes on mustard. White tigers appear in many titles as well, and some rugs list a choice of color in their options, among them brown, orange, white and yellow. The green, blue and deep red grounds of the Tibetan-style rugs give the collection its boldest colors, and they let the orange tiger stand out more sharply than it would on a neutral ground.

A tiger rug in a themed room

A rug sets the base layer, and the animal can rise from there. A tiger cushion cover brings it up onto the sofa, with photographic portraits, a tattoo-style tiger facing a dragon and black and white line drawings among the designs. A tiger statue adds a figure in the round, from golden and antique-style tigers to a cub and guardian pieces. Our tiger decor collection brings all of these together with lamps, blankets, wall stickers, tapestries and canvas paintings.

Questions about tiger rugs

Is there a green or a blue version?

Yes. The Green Tiger Rug and the Tibetan Tiger Rug Blue carry the same Tibetan-style tiger, one on a deep green ground and the other on royal blue.

Are any of the rugs round?

Several are. The Vintage Tiger Rug is one, offered from 40cm to 200cm across, and the striped mustard rug mentioned above is another.

How are the sizes listed?

Most rugs list their sizes in their options, usually in centimeters, while a few, such as the Green Tiger Rug and the Tibetan Tiger Rug Blue, give them in inches or in feet.