2'6" x 21'8" Chobi Runner Rug | Ivory All Over Floral, Black Border | Hand-Knotted in India, Never Used

This 2'6" x 21'8" Chobi runner is a length you almost never see on the floor, hand-knotted in India in wool on a cotton foundation and held to just 30 inches wide across the full 260 inch run. The ivory field is drawn as a continuous floral repeat with no center medallion to interrupt it, fenced on both long sides by a near black border of blooming vine, and the whole piece finishes in plain ivory cotton fringe at both ends. The pile measures 3/8 inch, the handle is supple rather than stiff, and the rug is brand new and has never been walked on. It sits with the longest of our Oriental runner rugs and ships with a certificate of authenticity from our Freeport showroom.

Design and Motifs

The field is an all over floral design, which is the right choice for a rug this narrow because a medallion would be cut in half by the borders. Staggered rows of large serrated palmettes alternate with 8 petal rosettes and lobed shield shaped blossoms, each one hung on a thin scrolling vine that threads the entire length without a break. Between the big flowerheads sit small boteh paisley forms, curled leaves with notched edges and tiny 4 petal buds, so there is no empty ground anywhere in the drawing. The main border carries a classic blooming meander, broad palmettes and lotus heads swinging off a continuous stem, and it is contained on both sides by narrow guard stripes of running flowers. Because the pattern repeats instead of resolving to a center, the runner reads correctly from either end, which matters in a hall you walk in both directions.

Ivory Field, Near Black Border

The field is a warm unbleached ivory that leans toward oatmeal and cream rather than a bright white, and under natural light on stone flooring it picks up a sandy tone. The pattern worked over it is entirely earth driven: old gold and ochre in the large palmettes, olive and soft sage in the leaves and vine, rust and terracotta in the rosettes, cocoa brown in the outlines and spandrel shapes, and a pale salmon that appears in the smallest buds and flower centers. Scattered pinpoints of deep navy sit inside the field blossoms and give the drawing its dark punctuation. The main border is close to black, a charcoal deep enough to read as ink at a distance, and it is the single most important color decision in the rug, because it frames a very pale field and stops a 30 inch wide piece from vanishing into light tile or wood. A thin brown line separates field from border and a second ivory outer stripe runs along the edges, so the dark band is held rather than left to bleed into the floor.

Hand-Knotted in India

India is where most of the world's good contemporary hand-knotted work is now made, and this piece shows why: tight even knotting, straight cotton warps, hand finished selvedges and a wool pile with enough body to take real foot traffic. The Chobi styling comes out of the Ziegler and Agra floral tradition, softened palette and open repeat, and it is the main reason this reads as a quiet traditional Oriental rug rather than a loud one. Weaving a runner to 21'8" is harder than weaving a room size piece, because the loom tension has to hold true for months to keep the sides parallel and the ends square, and this one lies flat and straight down its whole length. At that proportion it belongs in a long corridor, a gallery landing or a deep entry, and buyers shopping hallway runner rugs rarely find a single unbroken piece that covers this much ground.