6'6" x 8' Indian Mahi Tabriz Rug | Wool and Silk Touch | Black and Ivory

A rectangular rug of 6'6" x 8', knotted in India in the Mahi Tabriz manner, with a pile of wool carrying silk-touch highlights. At a glance it reads as a dark rug: a near-black ground covered edge to edge in a small repeating lattice, with a wide camel-toned reserve around a scalloped central medallion and a black main border of leaves and palmettes.

Design

The field is worked in the Mahi, or fish, pattern, a close diamond lattice with a rosette at each crossing and paired curved leaves beside it, repeated at a scale small enough that the drawing only resolves when you stand over it. A broad scalloped cartouche sits at the centre, outlined in a thin ivory line, and inside it a diamond medallion holds a four-lobed floral rosette with palmettes at the four points. Pendants hang from the top and bottom of the medallion, and quarter versions of the same cartouche fill the four corners. The main border carries alternating palmettes and feathered leaves on black, flanked by narrow guard bands of small flowerheads and a reciprocal zigzag line, with the border drawing turning cleanly at each corner.

Colour

The ground is a deep black that photographs almost brown where the pile leans away from the light. Against it the lattice is picked out in camel, rust and ivory, with small white flowerheads scattered across the dark field giving it a dusted look. The reserve around the medallion is a soft tan, warmer than the ivory outlines that separate the parts of the design, and the medallion centre is rose-brown with olive and deep blue inside it. Small touches of blue and a muted sage green run through the border flowers and guard stripes, cooling an otherwise warm brown and black scheme.

Making

Hand-knotted in India, the rug is woven at a fine enough gauge to carry the Mahi lattice and the thin outlines of the medallion without blurring, and the pile is clipped low. The wool with a silk touch gives the lighter areas a slight sheen, most visible across the tan reserve and the medallion. Ends finish in plain ivory fringe and the sides are overcast in black. The table records it as new and in perfect condition.