11' x 14'8" Turkish Oushak Rug | Soft Blue Palmette Field | Ivory Border with Coral Accents

This is a hand-knotted Turkish Oushak in the quiet, faded palette that decorators have chased for a century, woven in wool on a cotton foundation and finished at a true 11' x 14'8". The pile is medium to long and loosely packed in the traditional Oushak manner, which is exactly what gives the drawing its soft edges and gives the rug that broken, watery surface where the light shifts across the blue. It is an Oriental rug in the truest sense of the term, and at this size it belongs with the oversize rugs that hold an entire seating group without crowding it. Condition is excellent, the pile is even across all 4 corners, and the rug ships with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The field carries an all over repeat built on broad palmettes and split leaves linked by a loose lattice of vines, drawn large and simplified the way Oushak weavers have always handled a classical pattern. Rows alternate: a wide fan shaped palmette in ivory and coral, then a shield shaped cartouche outlined in olive with a coral heart, then a slender candle-like stem rising between them. Small hooked leaves and stray rosettes fill the gaps so the blue ground never reads empty. The main border runs an ivory ground with a serpentine olive vine and paired coral blossoms, flanked by narrow guard stripes of coral lozenges set with pale blue diamonds, and the outermost edge finishes in a plain blue band that frames the whole composition. The corners are resolved with generous corner ornaments rather than a cut-off repeat, which is a sign the design was planned to the loom rather than improvised at the ends.

A Palette of Soft Blue, Ivory and Coral

The field is a dusty light blue with a distinctly grey cast, streaked with gentle abrash that lightens toward the upper half and deepens along the sides, the natural variation you get from small dye lots. Against it the palmettes are worked in warm ivory and buttermilk, the vines and outlines in a faded terracotta coral that sits somewhere between salmon and brick, and the darkest notes come from a muted olive brown used for the cartouches and the border vine. The main border is a soft sand ivory that has mellowed to camel in places, and the guard stripes pick up the same coral and a paler powder blue. Nothing in the palette is saturated, which is why the rug sits easily with grey upholstery, pale oak, walnut and white plaster walls. Photographed under different light the field reads anywhere from soft denim to pale grey-blue, so expect a calmer, greyer tone in a north facing room.

Oushak Weaving in Western Anatolia

Oushak, or Usak, is a weaving town in western Anatolia that has produced large room-size rugs since the 15th century, first for Ottoman courts and mosques and later for the European and American market, which is why so many grand houses of the early 1900s were floored in them. The local wool is long stapled and slightly glossy, it takes soft dyes beautifully and it wears down to a sheen rather than going dull. Oushaks are deliberately woven at a moderate knot count on a cotton warp and weft, a decision rather than a shortcut: a coarser weave and a taller pile give the large scale drawing room to breathe and make the rug supple enough to lie flat across a wide floor. The reverse of this piece, shown against a 12 inch ruler, has a clean even knot line with no pulling or waviness, and the flatwoven ends and overcast selvages are intact and original.