4' x 11'8" Chobi Oriental Runner Rug | Black Field All-Over Floral Vine | Hand-Knotted Wool | Excellent Condition

This 4' x 11'8" Chobi runner is a long, hand-knotted piece built on the formula the Peshawar workshops are known for: a deep near-black ground, a continuous floral vine running the full length, and a pale border that stops the dark field from feeling heavy. At 48" wide it is broader than the usual 2'6" or 3' passage runner, which puts it in a different bracket from most hallway runner rugs and makes it work in a wide gallery, a long entry, or alongside a bed. The wool pile carries a quiet sheen that the close-up photographs pick up clearly. It is in excellent condition and ships with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

There is no central medallion. Instead the all-over floral design repeats down the length as a series of mirrored panels: paired gold rosettes the size of a fist, each one packed with small internal florets, alternating with upright crowned palmettes drawn in rose and taupe over a ring motif. Thick gold vines loop between them and throw off clusters of 5 petal blossoms, small tulip buds and long serrated leaves that reach almost across the field. The main border runs on an ivory ground with a leaf and blossom meander, framed by a rose-taupe inner stripe and narrow gold guard stripes on both sides. The drawing stays consistent and symmetrical across all 140" of length, which is the hard part on a narrow loom.

The Color Palette: Black Ground with Gold, Ivory and Rose

The field reads black from standing height and shows a warm charcoal-brown cast where the light rakes across the pile, so it sits comfortably with brown and espresso furniture rather than fighting it. On top of that ground the ornament is layered in old gold and antique brass for the rosettes and vines, soft butter and cream for the blossoms, and a dusty raspberry rose that appears only in the small buds and flower centers, which is what keeps the palette from going flat. Mushroom taupe and pale lilac-grey fill the palmettes and the inner border stripe, bridging the dark field and the ivory border. The border ground itself is a warm ivory with gold leafwork and dark brown accents, the selvage is dark brown, and the fringe is natural ivory.

Peshawar Chobi Weaving and Quality

Chobi runners like this one are woven in and around Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan, where the workshops specialize in hand-spun wool and a muted, wood-toned palette, which is where the name Chobi comes from. That places this runner in the wider Oriental rug family, hand-knotted one knot at a time on a cotton foundation and clipped to a medium-low pile so the fine vine work stays legible. The back photograph shows an even, tight knot grid with no pulling or waviness along the edges, and the pile is full across the whole length with no shading from use. For a 4' x 11'8" format that has to hold its line for nearly 12 feet, the straightness of the borders and the consistency of the repeats are the real measures of the weave, and both hold up here.