11'9" x 17'2" Agra Oriental Rug | Burgundy & Black All Over Floral | Hand-Knotted Wool, New

This 11'9" x 17'2" Agra rug is a full palace-size floor, hand-knotted in India with a 3/8" wool pile on a cotton foundation and never put into use. The drawing follows the classical Agra formula: a deep burgundy field carrying a continuous system of serrated palmettes and scrolling vines, closed by a wide black border. At 141 inches by 206 inches it covers a great room or a long formal living room end to end, and it sits in the small group of oversize Oriental rugs woven in one piece on a single loom rather than seamed together. It ships with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

There is no central medallion. The field runs as an all over floral design, a staggered lattice of large serrated palmettes built from layered petals, each row offset against the one above it so the eye never lands on a single focal point. Between the palmettes sit smaller 8 petal rosettes, curled split leaves and tiny buds, all strung together by thin gold vines that curve continuously instead of turning at angles, which is the signature of a drawn cartoon rather than a memorized village pattern. The main black border repeats an elongated palmette cartouche flanked by feathered leaves, and two narrow guard bands of running vine and small blossoms frame the composition on all 4 sides.

Burgundy Field, Black Border, Sage Green Ornament

The ground is a deep burgundy, closer to wine and oxblood than to a bright tomato red, and it holds that depth evenly across the full 17'2" length with only the soft tonal movement natural to hand-spun wool. The ornament is what lifts it. Sage green and olive make up the body of the palmettes, ivory outlines cut each flower cleanly out of the dark ground, and touches of salmon, dusty rose and antique gold warm the flower centers. The border is a true black rather than a navy reading as black, which gives the burgundy a hard frame and makes the pale green vinework laid over it legible from the far side of a large room.

Woven in India in the Agra Tradition

Agra has been a weaving center since the Mughal court workshops of the 16th century, and the vocabulary on this piece comes directly out of that lineage. India is now where most of the world's finest contemporary hand-knotted work is made, in Jaipur and Agra ateliers that spin their own wool, dye in small lots and tie every knot by hand on a cotton warp. The workmanship here shows it: a level 3/8" pile sheared to an even height, tight straight selvages, sides that stay parallel over more than 17 feet, and crisp outline transitions where the ivory meets the burgundy. For the distinction between this kind of weaving and Persian work, see our guide on Persian rugs vs Oriental rugs.