10' x 14' Indian Modern Rug | Wool and Bamboo Silk | Beige

A 10' x 14' rug knotted by hand in India, with a pile of wool and bamboo silk. The ground is a plain sandy beige with no border and no medallion, and across it run thin lines in rust and red, drawn from one end of the field to the other like stems standing up out of the floor. Seen from a distance the field reads as almost empty; up close the lines carry a distinct sheen that the wool ground does not.

The design

The drawing is modern and deliberately loose. Lines rise from the short ends and lean across each other at shallow angles, some running the full length of the rectangular field, others stopping part way and tapering to a point. They vary in weight from a hairline to roughly an inch wide, and where two cross the pile darkens at the join. One end is denser than the other, with a cluster of stems standing close together, while the opposite half leaves wide stretches of open ground. A single heavier line runs along one end edge, close to the selvedge, which is as near as the rug comes to a border.

The colour

The ground is a warm beige, closer to oatmeal in the shade and to pale sand where the light crosses the pile, and it shifts slightly along the length of the rug as the nap turns. The lines are given in the table as pom red, and in the photographs they run through copper and rust to a deep maroon on the thickest strokes. Because the ground is matte and the lines are not, the contrast is as much about light as about hue: the same line can look pale apricot from one side of the rug and dark brick from the other.

The making

The rug is hand-knotted in India, with wool carrying the beige ground and bamboo silk used for the coloured lines, which is what gives them their lustre against the flatter wool. The pile is clipped low and level, and the drawn edges of the lines are sharp rather than stepped. The table records the rug as new and in perfect condition, with full pile throughout and firm selvedges.