11'10" x 17'7" Oversize Indian Rug | Soltanabad All Over Floral | Black and Gold Palace Size

Very few rooms are big enough for this one, and that is exactly the point. Measuring 142" by 211", this new hand-knotted piece is a true palace format, one of the larger pieces in our stock of oversize hand-knotted rugs and sized for the kind of great room where an 11 by 14 simply floats. The drawing is Soltanabad: no central medallion, no stiff repeat, just one continuous flowering vine system climbing across a deep black ground and finishing in a wide old gold border. The pile is 100% wool cut at 1/2 inch, dense enough to hold the fine outlines in the leaf tips and still comfortable underfoot. Buyers shopping 12x18 rugs will find this one unusually graphic for its size. It ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming the hand-knotted construction, the wool content and the size stated above.

Design and Motifs

The field is a true all over floral design, mirrored down the long axis rather than centered on a medallion. Broad fan shaped palmettes open like shells, big serrated acanthus leaves arc away from them, and small lotus buds and 5 petal blossoms fill the ground between the larger forms. Tendrils cross and loop so the eye keeps moving, which is what keeps a field this long from reading as empty. The main border carries oversized palmettes cradled in deep green leaves, spaced generously against gold, with a rust and burgundy vine running through the inner and outer guard stripes. All 4 corners resolve cleanly, the border turns without the pattern being chopped, and a narrow black outer band frames the whole thing and ties the border back to the field.

Black Ground, Gold Border, Rust and Rose Flowers

The ground is a deep black that leans slightly blue under warm light, and it is what makes everything else glow. Against it the flowers are shaded, not flat: a single palmette can run from pale ivory at the outer edge through soft gold and apricot into rose and a clear rust red at the heart, with green veining drawn into the leaf tips. The border is an antique gold, closer to old honey than to yellow, and the guard stripes pick up burgundy and rust so the frame reads warm rather than pale. Greens range from a dusty sage in the leaf bodies to a darker pine in the border cradles. The overall effect is a dark, saturated rug that still feels soft, because none of the colors are hard primaries. It sits comfortably with black or walnut furniture, cream upholstery and brass or antique gold metals.

Woven in India in the Soltanabad Tradition

This rug was hand-knotted in India, the country where most of the world's good contemporary hand-knotted work is now made, and we say that with confidence rather than apology. The weaving centers around Jaipur and Agra took on the classic Soltanabad drawing decades ago and have kept the standards high: hand-spun wool, a firm cotton foundation, and weavers who can hold a curved vine straight across a 17 foot length without the pattern drifting. You can read the quality on the back, where the knots are even and the outlines stay crisp through the smallest leaf. If you are weighing this against other pieces, our guide to what separates a Persian rug from an Oriental rug is worth 5 minutes. For a palace size floor, this is a lot of hand-knotted wool for the money.