5'2" x 8' Gold Zari Silk Oriental Rug | Qom Design Raised Carved Pile | New, Never Used

This 5'2" x 8' rug is a workshop showpiece built on a trick that only the best silk weavers attempt: the flowers are knotted in silk and then hand-carved into relief, while the ground behind them is woven flat in gold Zari metallic thread. The result is a field that shifts between matte and mirror as you walk around it, with every blossom standing physically above the shimmer. The drawing follows the classic Qom medallion layout, a pale celadon and blush rosette centerpiece floating in a dense all-over floral field inside a deep burgundy border. It is brand new, never used, and ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming it is 100% hand-knotted.

Design and Motifs

The center holds a rounded lobed medallion drawn in soft celadon and blush, with a tiny carved star at its core and a ring of burgundy and ivory petal cartouches set around the outer edge. Two serrated pendants reach up and down into the field, each one filled with its own miniature vine. Around that medallion the gold ground carries an all-over scheme of lotus palmettes, cupped rosettes, split-leaf arabesques and curling acanthus, mirrored across both axes so the left and right halves answer each other exactly. Hand-carving follows the outline of every flower, cutting a narrow channel around each petal so the motif reads in three dimensions rather than flat. The main burgundy border alternates large palmette cartouches with tighter blossom clusters, and ivory and pale green guard stripes of meandering vine frame it on both sides.

A Gold Ground Framed in Deep Burgundy

The dominant note is the metallic gold of the Zari ground, which photographs as a clear chartreuse yellow in raking light and as a deeper antique brass straight on, so the field looks noticeably different in the overhead shot than in the angled ones. Against it the flowers are worked in ivory, blush peach, taupe-brown and several greens, from a pale celadon in the medallion and spandrel work down to a near-black forest green that shadows the leaf tips. Small teal-blue dots sit in the flower centers, and a few clear burgundy cartouches punctuate the field. The border reverses the balance: a deep oxblood burgundy ground carrying ivory and sage palmettes. Buyers hunting gold and yellow rugs will find few pieces with this much warmth and movement.

Made in China: Silk, Zari and Carved Weaving

China's silk workshops are the only places still combining three separate skills at this level in one piece: a knot count fine enough to draw a curved line cleanly, the Zari technique of weaving flat metallic thread as a ground, and the carving that gives the pile its relief. The back shown in the close-up photograph is tight and evenly beaten, with the design legible knot for knot, which is the honest test of a hand-knotted piece. Carving is slow work, done after weaving with a hand shear, and it is what separates a serious silk Oriental rug from a production piece. At 5'2" x 8' it suits a seating area, a formal dining setting, or a wall, where the metallic ground earns its keep all day.