12' x 14'6" Ghazni Chobi Peshawar Rug | Zigler All-Over Floral Vine Design | Natural Brown & Ivory, New

This is a big, quiet rug with a lot of weight behind it. Measuring 12' x 14'6", it is hand-knotted entirely in natural organic wool on a cotton foundation, with a deep chocolate brown field carrying an all-over vine and palmette drawing in beige, apricot and soft rose. It is brand new and never walked on, and it belongs in the group of oversize handmade rugs that actually fill a great room rather than floating in the middle of it. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming the size, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

There is no medallion here. The field is a continuous all-over floral design, a slow curving vine that loops the full 14'6" length and throws off broad lotus palmettes, 8 petal rosettes and long serrated leaves at every turn. The drawing is deliberately oversized and open, which is what makes the Zigler layout read well from standing height in a large room. The main border is an ivory ground carrying big lobed palmettes and curled leaves, flanked by a narrow apricot guard stripe on each side and finished with a plain dark brown outer band and natural ivory fringe. Small crimson florets are scattered through both field and border as punctuation.

The Chocolate Brown Field and Its Palette

The field is an undyed to lightly dyed chocolate brown that shifts in fine vertical striations as the light crosses it, a natural abrash you can see clearly in the close-up photographs. Against that ground the palmettes run through beige, straw gold, apricot and a dusty rose that reads almost pink where the wool takes the dye softly. Sage green appears in the serrated leaves, and rust to crimson shows only in the small buds and border florets, so the contrast stays controlled. The border is a warm sand ivory that lifts the whole piece and keeps it from going heavy, which is what most buyers looking at brown area rugs are worried about.

Peshawar Weaving and Ghazni Wool

Peshawar, in northwest Pakistan, is where the Chobi tradition was rebuilt by master weavers over the last several decades, and the best of that work now rivals anything being made by hand anywhere. Chobi means wood, a reference to the plant and vegetable dyes that give these pieces their muted, already mellowed tone. The wool is Ghazni highland fleece, hand spun, long stapled and slightly lanolin rich, which is why the pile has that dry glow in the photographs and why it wears so slowly. The Zigler drawing itself descends from the 19th century Sultanabad workshops. If you are weighing this against other weaving groups, our guide to what separates a Persian rug from an Oriental rug is worth reading before you decide.