Meet the hijab-wearing model who fled war in Somalia and became a Vogue fashion editor

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Rawdah Mohamed uses her Somali heritage as inspiration for her role as a fashion editor at the recently launched Vogue Scandinavia. (Ole Martin Halvorsen)
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Updated 20 August 2021
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Meet the hijab-wearing model who fled war in Somalia and became a Vogue fashion editor

  • Rawdah Mohamed is the first hijab-wearing editor of color at a western fashion magazine
  • Somali-Norwegian model’s family fled Somalia’s civil war for Kenya when she was a baby

LONDON: When Rawdah Mohamed lived in an asylum camp after arriving in Norway as a refugee, she was teased at school for wearing a hijab.

Now, the 29-year-old model confidently uses her Somali heritage as inspiration for her role as a fashion editor at the recently launched Vogue Scandinavia. 

Not only is Mohamed the first hijab-wearing editor of color at a western fashion magazine, but her journey to her dream job has been an extraordinary one, full of adversity.  

The Somali-Norwegian model’s family fled Somalia’s civil war for Kenya when she was a baby. Along with her parents and nine siblings, including an adopted sister, she grew up in a refugee camp in Kenya before moving to Norway as an eight-year-old. 

“We came to Norway and for two years we lived in an asylum camp, which was in a very small town. That was very hard because the people there were extremely racist. They didn’t want any refugees there because they thought we were dangerous and we were there to take their jobs,” Mohamed told Arab News. 

At school during the two years that Mohamed spent at the asylum camp with her family, she was bullied for wearing her hijab and the other children would take it off in class. 

As a result, her teachers discussed not allowing Mohamed to wear the hijab to school, which left her feeling “traumatized and upset.”

“When we were on our way to Norway, my mother kept on saying the country would be safe, that there was no war there and we could do whatever we wanted because we were free,” she said. 

The model said she felt as if everyone else was free except for herself in the place where she had hoped to enjoy liberty. 




Rawdah Mohamed is the first hijab-wearing editor of color at a western fashion magazine. (Ole Martin Halvorsen)

“When they teach you that there is something wrong with you, that you are the problem and that you have to change, I didn’t like that. I didn’t leave my home and come all the way here for them to tell me that I still don’t have my freedom,” Mohamed explains. 

“So I continued wearing the hijab just to make a statement.”

Mohamed said that life improved at age 10 after her family left the camp and were given the right to remain in Norway.

“When we moved, that’s when my real childhood started because we were safe and had a permanent address, a permanent place that we could call home. I hadn’t had that since I was born. My mum was very happy because all her children were safe and we had food and everything we needed,” she said.

Despite not living in Somalia for long, Mohamed said her love for fashion comes from her Somali background.

 “We are so colorful in the way we dress,” she said.  

The model said she loved watching the women at the refugee camp in Kenya where she spent her early childhood getting ready for a wedding and accompanying her mother to the market to “see what everyone was wearing.”

“At the refugee camp, I was one of the few kids who were allowed to attend the weddings just because I loved what they were doing. I would sit out in the street and watch the ladies go by,” she said.

On Fridays, teenage girls would attend religious classes where they were taught Qur’an and Islamic Studies. The girls would get dressed up for the classes and as a younger girl, she observed their style with envy. The allure of their hijabs is what inspired her to wear one herself eventually.

“In the refugee camp in Kenya, only the teenage girls would wear the hijab. I loved copying what they were wearing and how they spoke and walked. They would put accessories on their hijab and it was very stylish. I really wanted to look like them,” she said.

Mohamed described how “special” having traditional Eid clothes made at the refugee camp was. It was the only occasion for which her parents could afford to buy her new clothes.

“You would buy fabric, take it to a tailor who was always a man and tell him exactly how you wanted the dress so that he could make it for you. That was so special for me,” the model said.

Mohamed said she “sort of stumbled into modeling” after a mutual friend put her in touch with her manager whilst she was at university studying for a degree in  behavioral analysis and healthcare. 

“I went to a fashion show in Oslo at the end of 2018 where I met my manager. He told me about what they were doing and I went to his office for a meeting and I said I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a model but I wanted to work in fashion,” Mohamed said. 

However, after doing a few shoots that she was happy with, Mohamed decided to become a model in 2019.

At the beginning of her modeling career, Mohamed juggled the job with working with autistic people and people with different mental disabilities.

She continues to volunteer in mental health care to this day and has been working with patients at overstretched hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

She described her shock at how differently the hijab is perceived in the fashion world compared to in heath care professions.

“It’s almost bizarre, sometimes you can’t even believe the discussions that people are having. It’s simply a piece of cloth on my head,” Mohamed said. 

“You sort of expect every adult to be intelligent enough to understand that it is a religious choice and that’s it, there’s no more to discuss. When you come into fashion, you see the mindset is way backwards, it’s like being in the asylum camp where you have to defend your rights and how you look,” she said.

In contrast, “When you’re a nurse, you’re given a hijab as part of the uniform and nobody really questions it. Everyone is so used to it and it’s never an issue,” Mohamed added. 

She described her initial outrage and surprise at some clients who asked her how much hair she could show and or whether she could show her neck.

“At the beginning I was very shocked at people’s attitude towards things that are different or that they are not used to,” she said.

“There have been situations where I come in and they know I can’t show my hair or anything so they will ask for a meeting before that and try to persuade me to show a little bit of hair. Or they would ask how much hair I am willing to show because they would love to see just a tiny bit. I find that outrageous,” she added.

However, Mohamed said that the clients that book her are open minded toward the hijab and “that’s why they book me.”

“The people I work with are worth it and you can educate them. Ninety-nine percent of the people I meet and work with are different. I don’t work with the clients who don’t understand me,” she explained.

Mohamed said that although hijab-wearing models sometimes need to bring their own hijabs to shoots and show the stylist how to put it on, which is an added stress to the job, she sees it as her responsibility to educate the fashion world on the hijab and what it entails. 

“As the first generation of hijabi models, that is our job. If we don’t do it correctly, then the fashion industry will have the control to do what they want so you’re going to see so-called hijabi models but their hijab is not as the model or the Muslim community sees it. 

“So we do have the responsibility to educate the fashion industry on how our communities work, what we see ourselves as and how we interpret the hijab. 

“So when I am on a shoot and have to explain to a stylist what works and what doesn’t work, I don’t mind doing that. Sometimes I’ll go in the day before to discuss things and I don’t mind that because it is something I enjoy,” she said.




Somali-Norwegian model Rawdah Mohamed’s family fled Somalia’s civil war for Kenya when she was a baby and settled in Norway having lived in an asylum camp. (Emma Sukalic)

Mohamed added that hijab-wearing models also have to ensure that the photographer on a shoot understands their “religious views and integrity.”

“If the photographer asks you to do a certain pose that you’re not comfortable with or that might be on the sexual side, you have to say that you can’t do that because you’re not comfortable with it. So there is definitely an extra layer of responsibility with being a hijabi model; if those pictures are printed, you are the one who is going to get the backlash,” the model said.

Mohamed landed the role as Vogue Scandinavia’s Norway fashion editor earlier this year. 

The magazine launched last week with Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg on the front cover.

“I write articles about fashion and do the styling, attend and review fashion shows, make videos and work on social media,” Mohamed said.

She is a huge fan of Lebanese designers and mostly wears their creations to red carpet events. 

“I think their haute couture is the most amazing. I really like Nicolas Jebran and Georges Chakra. Those two are my favorites,” she said.

Mohamed added that Arab designers understand the hijab and so wearing their creations are much easier. 

“Some of their dresses are not actually modest. What they would do is get me extra fabric so I could wear it as a hijab and underwear garments that matched the gown so that I don’t have to worry if there is a split or the fabric is see-through.”

When asked what she has lined up for the future, Mohamed said she doesn’t worry too much about it and likes to be a free spirit.

“I always like my life the way it is. I like to be very fluid with it and make sure I have a good time,” she said. 


Paul Weller, Primal Scream and Annie Mac back Kneecap amid political backlash over pro-Palestine message

Updated 01 May 2025
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Paul Weller, Primal Scream and Annie Mac back Kneecap amid political backlash over pro-Palestine message

DUBAI: English singer Paul Weller, Scottish rock band Primal Scream and Irish host and DJ Annie Mac voiced their support this week for Irish rap group Kneecap, who recently came under fire for displaying a “Free Palestine” message during their performance at the Coachella festival in the US. 

The artists joined over 40 others in signing an open letter organized by Kneecap’s record label, Heavenly Recordings, which condemns what it describes as a deliberate attempt to suppress the group’s voice and remove them from public platforms. 

The backlash against Kneecap intensified after videos from past performances resurfaced — one from a November 2023 concert in London that appeared to show a member expressing support for Hamas and Hezbollah, and another in which a group member is seen shouting: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”

British politician Kemi Badenoch, who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party since November 2024, has since called for legal action to be taken against the group. 

Meanwhile, Glastonbury Festival is facing calls to withdraw Kneecap from its upcoming lineup, and several scheduled performances, including one at the Eden Project in Cornwall, have been cancelled.

In an open letter, Kneecap’s label, Heavenly Recordings, claimed the group was facing a deliberate and coordinated effort to silence them and remove their presence from the music scene.

The letter reads: “As artists, we feel the need to register our opposition to any political repression of artistic freedom.”

“In a democracy, no political figures or political parties should have the right to dictate who does and does not play at music festivals or gigs that will be enjoyed by thousands of people.”

“Kneecap are not the story. Gaza is the story. Genocide is the story,” it says. “And the silence, acquiescence and support of those crimes against humanity by the elected British Government is the real story.” 

“Solidarity with all artists with the moral courage to speak out against Israeli war crimes, and the ongoing persecution and slaughter of the Palestinian people,” the letter added.


Syrian artists explore themes of forgiveness in Damascus exhibition 

Updated 01 May 2025
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Syrian artists explore themes of forgiveness in Damascus exhibition 

  • ‘The Path’ is a group show that curator Marwan Tayara says is ‘about healing’ 

DAMASCUS: In a city battered by years of conflict, a quiet revolution was unfolding earlier this month inside an unfinished concrete shell.  

“The Path,” a two-week exhibition curated by the Madad Art Foundation and staged in the once-abandoned skeletal Massar Rose Building in Damascus, confronted Syria’s pain, but, curator Marwan Tayara stressed: “This is not about politics. It’s about healing.” 

Tayara — who co-founded Madad alongside the late Buthayna Ali, a fine arts professor whose vision of a show on forgiveness inspired “The Path” — continued: “For us, the artist is a patriot. The bakery feeds the body, and art feeds the soul. The soldier fights for his country, and so does the artist — but with ideas, with beauty.” 

Lamia Saida pictured with her installation 'To Memory, Once More.' (Robert Bociaga)

Ali, who died in September, had envisioned a show that would offer something softer than some of Madad’s previous exhibitions around topics including war and disaster. “She wanted to make an exhibition about forgiveness but never had the chance,” artist Rala Tarabishi told Arab News. “We decided to do it as a gift for her — and for Syria.”  

Even the venue was part of the show’s message. “This is a construction site,” said Tayara. “It’s symbolic. Syria is unfinished. But we’re building. Art has to be part of that process — not just rebuilding walls, but rebuilding identity.” 

Tarabishi’s installation, “Embed,” was a forest of resin swords frozen mid-fall, through which visitors could walk. “When I embed my sword into the earth during a fight, I’m putting an end to it — in the most peaceful way,” she said. But none of the swords in “Embed” had yet reached that point. “The closer the sword is to the ground, the closer I am to forgetting, or forgiving,” Tarabishi explained. “Some things are harder to let go of.” 

Visitors to 'The Path' in front of Dalaa Jalanbo’s 'Accumulation.' (Robert Bociaga)

For viewers, she hoped, it would be “as if the swords are memories or people who caused them pain. I wanted them to lean more into forgiveness, so they could live a more peaceful life.”  

But for Tarabishi, forgiveness is anything but simple. “It’s very hard. Some things feel too big for us to truly forgive, so we just coexist with our pain instead.” 

Eyad Dayoub’s installation, “Crossing,” was equally visceral. Suspended black and red wires hung like fishing nets. “Each level represents a period in Syria — full of darkness and blood,” Dayoub said. “The material looks like something that traps fish. I feel like I’ve been hunted by my country. I’m stuck — I can’t leave it, and I can’t love it either.” 

Detail from Rala Tarabishi's 'Embed' installation on display at 'The Path.' (Robert Bociaga)

Creating the piece was part-therapy, part-confrontation. “Our dreams were lost. But I’m trying to find love again between me and my country,” he continued, adding that some visitors wept when he explained the symbolism of the piece. “People are ready to feel again. After war, we became numb. But I see us becoming sensitive again.” 

If Dayoub’s wires evoked entrapment, Judi Chakhachirou’s work addressed instability. Her installation featured a trembling platform — a metaphor for emotional imbalance. “When someone hasn’t forgiven you — or you haven’t forgiven them — you feel unstable. You don’t know what’s wrong, but you’re not OK,” she said. 

Her piece was a message to the living: “Take your chances now. Don’t leave people in your life hurt. Forgive — or at least try. Because one day, it’ll be too late.” 

Rala Tarabishi in front of her installation 'Embed.' (Robert Bociaga)

The war has buried so much in silence, she added, that emotions — even tears — feel like progress. “Some people cried when they saw it. Others said it made them feel calm, like they finally understood what was bothering them,” she said. “I hope my next work will be more hopeful.” 

For Mariam Al-Fawal, forgiveness is less emotional and more philosophical. Her interactive installation, “A Delicate Balance,” draws on Karl Popper’s formulation of the paradox of tolerance. Visitors can rearrange its colored puzzle pieces on wooden stands to construct a final, diverse pattern. 

“If you tolerate all ideologies — including the intolerant — you destroy tolerance itself,” Al-Fawal explained. “Without exclusion, there can be no true inclusion. To see the full picture, you have to flip the pieces, adjust them. That’s how people work too. You can’t have one color, one shape; you have to embrace difference.” 

Mariam Al-Fawal with her interactive installation 'A Delicate Balance.' (Robert Bociaga)

Al-Fawal’s puzzle asks viewers to build balance. “People interacted with it differently,” she said, “But most walked away with a shifted perspective. That’s why I made it interactive: the process carries the message.” 

Lamia Saida contributed “To Memory, Once More,” which consisted of a set of blood-red, burned and shredded canvases suspended like raw meat.  

“I thought if I wanted to express these memories visually, it had to be meat,” she explained. “That’s what they feel like. That’s why they hang. That’s why they bleed.” 

Massar Rose Building in Damascus, Syria. (Robert Bociaga)

Syria’s trauma, for Saida, is not abstract —it is textured, fleshy, and inescapable. And yet, through art, it is manageable. “Art is more than therapy,” she continued. “When I make something honest, I feel like I forgive people. I find stability.” 

Her final painting is a single, steady line. “It’s the calm I reached after expressing everything else,” she said. 

More than 400 visitors visited the exhibition daily, according to the organizers. Some brought questions. Some brought grief. Others brought quiet. “Even political officials came,” Tayara said. “Not to control. Just to understand.” 

What started as a tribute to a beloved teacher has become a mirror for the country. “All Syrians have this memory of grief,” said Tarabishi. “Whether from war or daily life — it’s what binds us.” 

Madad hopes to bring “The Path” to other cities too.  

“We believe in the power of art,” said Tayara. “It won’t rebuild Syria alone. But it might rebuild the spirit. That’s where everything begins.” 


Marvel’s misfit superheroes find community in ‘Thunderbolts*’ 

Updated 01 May 2025
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Marvel’s misfit superheroes find community in ‘Thunderbolts*’ 

  • Stars Florence Pugh and David Harbour discuss the latest Marvel movie 

DUBAI: In the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe movie “Thunderbolts*,” directed by Jake Schreier, the focus isn’t just on larger-than-life action; it’s on the messy, complicated relationships between a team of misfits learning to trust each other. 

For stars David Harbour and Florence Pugh, that emotional core was the most important part of the process.  

“For me, most of the preparation was about really fleshing out these character arcs,” Harbour, who plays Soviet super soldier Red Guardian, told Arab News. “This movie sinks or swims not on its IP, but on its really complex relationships between these characters that you don’t know that much about. Our job was to infuse it with a lot of heart, humor, life and soul.” 

Pugh — who made her MCU debut in 2021’s “Black Widow” as the trained assassin Yelena Belova and is now headlining her first MCU movie — echoed that sentiment. 

“There was so much heart and pain already there,” she said. “When you’re playing large characters, you have to find ways to make it feel authentic, especially when you’re dealing with accents or heavy dialogue. A lot of our rehearsal process was about finding cleaner ways to get to the point — rewriting a few lines, making sure the characters said exactly what they needed to say to one another.” 

Florence Pugh and director Jake Schreier on set. (Supplied)

The cast spent two weeks in rehearsals, crafting scenes that highlighted the tangled emotions between their characters. “It was great fun, especially when you have a director who really wants you to be fully involved and make it your own,” Pugh said. 

The film follows a motley crew of anti-heroes — Yelena, Red Guardian, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Robert “Bob” Reynolds (Lewis Pullman), and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) — who must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts as they take down a common enemy. 

Beyond individual dynamics, the movie taps into deeper themes of isolation and the need for connection — what Harbour describes as the “epidemic of loneliness” in the modern world. 

“When these characters first come together, there’s a lot of lying about how they’re doing, a lot of pretending,” Harbour said. “People are afraid. They’re isolated. We feel connected because of these devices we carry, but they don’t really provide the sustenance we need as human beings.” 

Pugh elaborated on that point. “We’ve reached a point where so many people have so many insecurities, and they feel like they’re not right, and they feel like they’re not getting it right, and (what they see on social media) is making them feel like their life isn’t as beautiful or as colorful or as perfect as those posts,” she said. “And I think when we watch characters that have these immense flaws also trying to figure it out, it helps. Of course it helps.” 

Harbour believes the film captures the essence of personal salvation: finding strength in community.  

(From left) David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Wyatt Russell and Florence Pugh in 'Thunderbolts'. (Supplied)

“I worry about that phrase ‘We have to save ourselves,’ because I actually think it’s that we have to save each other,” he said. “We have to not sit there alone going, like, ‘I gotta do something.’ I feel like that’s the anxiety that’s killing us. The vulnerability of, like, ‘Maybe I ask someone,’ or ‘I find a group of people who are willing to take me as I am and to see the good in me.’ That’s one of the most beautiful moments in this movie.” 

Schreier, director of the acclaimed 2023 comedy-drama series “Beef,” said Marvel president Kevin Fiege encouraged him to take a different approach to this particular superhero story. 

“One of the real lessons of ‘Beef’ was that stories about something that feels smaller, or about emptiness, are no longer niche. They are actually universal. I think everyone goes through some version of that at some point in their lives, maybe to different degrees. But it isn’t small to tell a story like that. And so, this was a chance — on the biggest level — to see if a story like that could resonate at scale. That felt like a really wonderful opportunity.”


Kef Hayyak? Seeing Saudi neighborhoods through the eyes of emerging filmmakers

Updated 30 April 2025
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Kef Hayyak? Seeing Saudi neighborhoods through the eyes of emerging filmmakers

JEDDAH: Eighteen aspiring filmmakers have taken to the streets of their neighborhoods armed with nothing but their phones and a vision for the grassroots documentary challenge, “Kef Hayyak?”

The project, initiated by Art Jameel in collaboration with the Red Sea International Film Festival, invited participants to reflect the spirit of their communities in short documentaries.

Months after the February 2025 open call, the winners have been announced, and their films will premiere as part of the Red Sea Documentary Days this May at Hayy Cinema.

The program, which began as a concept in 2021 and has since grown into an annual platform, continues to break down barriers in filmmaking by expanding access to wider creative communities across Saudi Arabia. For the first time, the 2025 event also welcomed participants from Makkah, with one of the city’s filmmakers making it to the jury-selected top three.

The initiative culminates in a public screening at Hayy Cinema, featuring the three jury-selected winners — Eyad Al-Zahrani’s “Between,” Asia Lajam & Nad’s “A World Between Buildings,” and Alisha Khan’s “Nam Ghar, Jeddah” — alongside two audience favorites, “Hay Alakaber” by Amal Al-Zahrani and Othoub Al-Bedaiwi, and “From the Olives to the Sea” by Haya Al-Bhaisi and Mohammed Khalid.

A jury, comprising head of Hayy Cinema, Zohra Ait El-Jamar, director and actress, Fatima Al-Banawi, and director and actress, Ophelie Legris — evaluated the films based on creativity, relevance and narrative strength.

El-Jamar told Arab News: “‘Kef Hayyak?’ draws its essence from the name of Hayy Jameel and reflects our ongoing mission to connect with new audiences in meaningful ways. The project was first imagined in 2021, and after the success of its first edition, it has grown into an annual platform that empowers emerging filmmakers.

“Through this short documentary film competition, we invite aspiring talents to explore their neighborhoods using just their phones. I created the concept with the vision of breaking down barriers in filmmaking and expanding access to a wider creative community. It’s also a powerful way to document the ever-changing urban fabric of Jeddah — and now Makkah.

“We see this as a powerful launchpad for emerging talent, and we’re actively working to expand the program with deeper mentorship and professional opportunities in the years to come,” she added.

Audience Choice Award winner, Al-Zahrani, who hails from Makkah, said: “The movie covers a neighborhood that lacks identity and how it affects me and the residents in our day-to-day lives. Winning was such a heartwarming experience, seeing my work acknowledged and the story of my people and neighborhood embraced and loved. I plan to keep improving my documentary skills and hope to release a movie about a lawyer later this year.”

Khan’s winning documentary explores the Musrefah neighborhood of Jeddah and its vibrant Desi (Pakistani and Indian) community.

“My film ‘Naam Ghar, Jeddah’ is a documentary film which acts as a time capsule for me to look back on not only my neighborhood but the people living in it, especially the often-overlooked Desi community in Jeddah, where even the people themselves think the outer world is not interested in them,” Khan said.

“It aims to explore their dreams, identities and quiet resilience through simple, human questions, like what is your favorite color or what gives you happiness.”

Khan believes in the power of cinema to humanize and connect communities, emphasizing how platforms such as Hayy Jameel empower storytellers like herself. Her goal is to keep documenting life in Jeddah, capturing its present for future generations.

Al-Bhaisi told Arab News: “‘From the Olives to the Sea’ is a short documentary that explores the contrast and emotional connection between two places — Jeddah, where I feel a deep sense of belonging, and Gaza, the place I’m originally from but never fully connected with.

“Winning the Audience Choice Award honestly means the world to us. It shows that people connected with our story, and that’s all we ever wanted — to be heard, and to make others feel something real.”


Christie’s Islamic and Indian art auction showcases rare pieces

Updated 30 April 2025
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Christie’s Islamic and Indian art auction showcases rare pieces

LONDON: Ahead of its “Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds including Rugs and Carpets” auction here on May 1, Christie’s experts recently shared insights with Arab News about the rare lots going under the hammer. 

Sara Plumbly, director and head of the Islamic and Indian art department, highlighted an illuminated Kufic Qur’an folio, likely from Damascus, Umayyad Syria, dated to the 8th or 9th century.

“This Surah Al-Baqarah … is very early on in the Qur’an (chapter two titled ‘The Cow’), and you have this wonderful illuminated border. While you often see a line or two thick — here you have this hugely complicated border with beautiful colors.”

Although several illuminated Kufic manuscripts were produced, there were few survivors and generally fragmentary, since their placement at the front of a manuscript meant that they were more exposed to wear and tear, according to Christie’s website.

An illuminated Kufic Qur’an folio, likely from Damascus. (Supplied)

A collection of 11th century Fatimid gold jewelry caught the eye, to which Plumbly commented: “Jewellery of this type very rarely comes on the market.

“I think one of the reasons is that they are made of gold which is quite fragile and malleable and also, because it is such a precious material, gold is often melted down and used for other objects through the course of history, so it doesn’t survive in great quantities.”

A collection of 11th century Fatimid gold jewelry caught the eye. (Supplied)

At the pre-sale press exhibition in London, there was also a striking Iznik pottery dish from Ottoman Turkiye, circa 1585-1590. This was complete with bole red, cobalt blue, green and black accents, as well as saz leaves and pomegranates against a background of dense black scrolls.

A striking Iznik pottery dish from Ottoman Turkiye, circa 1585-1590. (Supplied)

Louise Broadhurst, director and international head of the department of rugs and carpets, pointed to The Hans Konig Collection of Classical Chinese Carpets.

There was a magnificent Imperial Ming “Qi” Dragon Palace carpet dating from the Wanli period, circa 1575-1600.

“It is one of just seven complete Dragon carpets that remain outside of China,” she explained.

“It  would have originally been red in color, woven with a Brazilwood dye which at the time emulated the red that was the Imperial color of the emperor but sadly with time it faded quite rapidly to this sandy yellow color that we see today.

“It displays the ‘Qi’ dragon —a juvenile dragon in a naturalistic life form with cloud-like body, symbolic of an energetic life force. It’s married with the peony which is another symbol for beauty. It would imbue all of the powers that the emperor wanted.”

The live auction is at Christie’s London headquarters with 129 lots set to go under the hammer.