6' x 9' Chinese Aubusson Needlepoint Rug | Flat-Weave | Black and Ivory

A 6' x 9' needlepoint carpet woven in China after the French Aubusson manner, worked flat with no pile, so the surface sits close to the floor and the drawing stays sharp. The field is black from edge to edge, and across it run garlands of pale roses, leafy stems and long ribbons tied in bows. A rectangular piece with a narrow gold and olive border holding the whole composition in.

The design

At the centre is a loose bouquet of open roses, five-petalled blossoms and small flowers, ringed first by an oval wreath of roses and then by a second, wider oval of leafy sprays. Beyond that the drawing is strictly symmetrical: at each end a tall tasseled quiver spills roses and buds and is tied with a long looped ribbon, and smaller ribbon bows gather the garlands that run up the sides of the field. The corners of the inner field are filled with a cut acanthus leaf curling around a dark core, and the border is a sequence of narrow bands, a gold line, a zigzag stripe in ivory and olive, and a plain black outer edge.

The colour

The ground is a flat, even black that pushes everything else forward. Against it the roses run from peach and dull coral to a faded blush, with ivory and cream petals catching most of the light. Leaves are sage and olive with some darker green, and gold to mustard yellow turns up in the smaller blossoms, in the quivers and again in the border bands. The ribbons are a pale grey-ivory, and a few small blossoms in the central bouquet and side sprays are worked in slate blue.

The making

This is a flat tapestry weave with no pile at all, the needlepoint technique that Aubusson work is known for, and the fold in one of the photographs shows the ribbed face and the same drawing reading clearly on both the front and the turned edge. It was made in China and is listed as new, in perfect condition.