6'5" x 9'6" Turkish Herekeh Rug | Wool | Ivory and Rust

A rectangular wool rug knotted in Turkey, measuring 6'5" x 9'6", with a pale ivory field carrying an unbroken repeat of small palmettes and curling leaves, framed by a rust border. At a few paces the field reads as one continuous warm surface; close up, as in the detail photographs, the drawing separates into hundreds of individually outlined flowers. The condition is given as excellent, and the pile in the rolled-edge shot stands evenly with no thinning along the folds.

The design

There is no medallion. The field is an all-over Herekeh pattern built on a fine lattice of split leaves and tendrils, with a cusped palmette at each crossing point, repeated in offset rows the full length of the rug. Each palmette is drawn with a dark outline and filled with a small cluster of blossoms, so the repeat never flattens into wallpaper. The main border holds a rust ground with scrolling vinework and large boteh at the corners, and it is separated from the field by a narrow olive-green guard band of alternating rosettes and little urn shapes, clearly visible in the close border photograph. Two thin striped minor guards run either side of it, and the outer edge is finished in ivory with a lighter version of the same floral scroll.

The colour

The ground is an ivory that warms towards pale gold under direct light, which is why the overall shots and the close-ups read slightly differently. Against it the border is a soft rust, closer to terracotta than to brick, and the guard band is a dusty olive green that cools the join between the two. Scattered through the field are small notes of deep navy, a lighter turquoise blue, rose pink and a dark aubergine used for the outlines of the palmettes. The palette is low in contrast overall, with the darkest value being the thin black-brown drawing line rather than any block of colour.

The making

Hand-knotted in wool on a cotton foundation, with ivory fringes at both ends and the knotting fine enough that the reverse, shown in the folded-back corner, carries the full pattern legibly. The spec table dates it to the 1950's, and the colours have the settled, slightly muted quality of wool that has had seven decades to mellow. The weave is dense and the handle firm rather than floppy, as the rolled section shows.