10' x 13'6" Agra Rug | Antique Soltanabad All Over Design | Rustic Red & Black | Brand New Wool

This is a brand new, never used hand-knotted Agra rug measuring 10' x 13'6", woven in India as a faithful reproduction of an antique Soltanabad room size piece. The drawing is loose, generous and confident, the wool is thick and lustrous, and the scale suits a full furniture group, which is why it sits squarely in the most requested of all 10x14 hand-knotted rugs. Every rug we ship carries a certificate of authenticity that records the weave, the materials and the origin, so you know exactly what is on your floor. Photographs 3 through 13 show the rug as it lies in our Freeport warehouse, including the back, the fringe and the tagged corner.

Design and Motifs

There is no central medallion. Instead the field carries a broad all over floral design built from large palmettes, split serrated leaves, curling saz foliage and thin vine scrolls that travel corner to corner in a mirrored repeat. The blossoms are drawn big on purpose, the way the 19th century Soltanabad weavers drew them, so the pattern still reads clearly under a sofa and a coffee table. The main border runs a black ground filled with camel and ivory palmettes linked by arabesque brackets, and it is framed on both sides by camel gold guard stripes of small 4 petal rosettes, with narrow ivory reciprocal bands giving the whole border a crisp outline. Small tulip buds, rosettes and stray leaves fill the gaps between the larger forms, which keeps the open red ground lively rather than empty.

A Rustic Red Field Framed in Black and Camel Gold

The field is a warm rustic red, closer to old brick and terracotta than to a bright crimson, and it carries a gentle abrash that shifts a shade lighter and darker across the width as the wool takes the dye. Against it the drawing is worked in ivory, soft salmon and peach, camel gold and chestnut brown, with deep teal green cores inside several of the larger palmettes and sage green leaves scattered through the vines. The main border drops to a near black ink tone with a blue cast, which is what gives the rug its depth and makes the camel gold guard stripes look almost luminous. Small touches of rose pink and pale celadon appear in the rosettes of the minor borders, visible in the close detail photographs. The overall effect is warm and mellow, a red that works with wood floors, green upholstery and antique brass.

Agra Weaving and Quality

Agra has been a serious weaving center since the Mughal court workshops, and today India is where most of the world's best contemporary hand-knotted work is made. This piece is honestly Made in India and it is a good example of why: a cotton foundation pulled tight and straight, a dense wool pile with an even clip, flat selvedges and hand-finished ivory fringes, all visible in the folded back and rolled edge photographs. The wool is highly reflective, so the field changes tone as you walk around it, and the pile has enough body to take traffic in a living room or dining room for decades. If you are weighing this against a village or city piece from another tradition, our guide on what separates a Persian from an Oriental rug explains the distinction in plain terms.