2'9" x 9'10" Pakistani Kazak Runner | Wool | Green

A runner of 2'9" x 9'10", hand-knotted in Pakistan with a wool pile. The field is green, which is uncommon in this design, and it carries a single column of medallions that alternate between red stepped forms and ivory-ground diamonds. A wide ivory border runs the whole length on both sides, so the green reads as a narrow channel down the middle rather than as a broad ground.

Design

The medallions sit one above the other down the centre of the field. The red ones are stepped and hooked at the edges, each with an ivory eight-pointed star at the centre holding a small red rosette (image 4 shows one of them close up). Between them are ivory diamonds with pale blue cores and serrated, hooked outlines. The green ground around the medallions is filled with small apricot and red palmettes, leaf sprays and tiny hooked figures, spaced loosely rather than packed. The main border is ivory, carrying alternating star rosettes, serrated leaf forms and wave motifs in red, blue and green. Narrow indigo guard bands on either side of it are set with red crosses and X figures, and a thin reciprocal band finishes the outer edge. The drawing throughout is angular, in the Kazak manner, with no curved line anywhere in it.

Colour

The field green is a mid grass tone that goes a little olive in the length shot and brighter where the light catches the pile. Against it the medallions are madder red, warm and slightly brick, outlined in dark indigo and filled out with undyed ivory. The border ground is the same ivory, which lifts the whole thing and keeps the green from going heavy. Light blue appears inside the star centres and in the border wave motifs, and a soft yellow to apricot runs through the small field ornaments and the medallion fillers. White highlights pick out the inner edges of several motifs. The side selvedges are bound in a light green yarn that matches the field, visible along the folded edge.

Making

Hand-knotted, with a wool pile. The back, shown at the folded corner, has an even knot grid with the pattern reading clearly through, and the pile is a medium clip that holds the outlines of the small motifs without blurring them. A pale fringe is left at both ends. The spec table records the rug as new and in perfect condition.