5'11" x 9' Chinese Tabriz Rug | Wool and Silk | Burgundy and Black

A hand-knotted rug from China, 5'11" x 9', with a pile of wool and silk and a Tabriz design. At a glance it reads as a deep burgundy field with a pale medallion at its centre, closed in by a black border carried right around the four sides. The silk sits in the flowerheads and the vine, so the pattern changes brightness as the rug is turned.

Design

The centre holds a round medallion with a toothed outline, filled with pale green and ivory palmettes and finished top and bottom with a lobed pendant. Around it a second, larger lobed cartouche is drawn in the pile itself, lighter burgundy against the ground, and beyond that the field runs to a close floral tracery of vines, split leaves and rosettes that meets ivory spandrels at the four corners. The main border is black, set with alternating palmettes and open roses joined by a thin stem, and it is held between narrow guard stripes of tan and ivory with a running flower chain. The format is rectangular and the drawing is symmetrical on both axes.

Colour

The ground is a burgundy that sits close to dark wine in the shaded photographs and lifts towards oxblood where the light crosses the pile. Against it the border is a true black, which pushes the ivory and tan of the guard stripes forward. The medallion and the corner spandrels bring in a soft sage green, and the flowerheads throughout are worked in ivory, salmon rose and a light biscuit tan, with small touches of dark green in the leaves. The overall balance is a dark field and a dark frame separated by a pale ring of corner and border work.

Making

Hand-knotted in China, with a pile of wool and silk and a cotton foundation showing in the plain ivory fringe at both ends. The back, seen against a ruler in the last photograph, shows a fine, even knot and a crisply drawn border motif that carries through to the reverse. The table records the rug as new and in perfect condition, with full pile and straight, unworn sides.