6' x 9' Indian Transitional Rug | Wool and Silk | Light Beige and Olive Brown

A 6' x 9' rug hand-knotted in India in wool and silk, with a light beige field drawn over in fine vinework and a wide olive-toned border. The whole piece works within two close values, so from standing height it reads as a quiet neutral rectangle and only resolves into pattern when you are nearer to it or when the light crosses the silk.

Design

The field carries an all-over floral system rather than a medallion: slender stems arch into a repeating lattice, and at each meeting point sits a palmette, a small cusped leaf or a cluster of five-petal rosettes. Curled boteh forms and serrated leaves fill the spaces between, and the drawing mirrors across both the long and short axes, so the same motif appears at matching distances from the centre. The main border runs on an olive ground with tall pineapple-shaped palmettes spaced along a flowering vine, each one picked out in cream. Two narrow guard stripes on a pale ground flank it, one with a small running meander, the other with linked blossoms, and the outer edge finishes plain before the ivory fringe at both ends.

Colour

The ground is a light beige close to raw silk, and the vine tracery over it is worked in a soft cocoa brown with lighter fawn shading where the silk takes the colour differently from the wool. The border is a muted olive that turns greener in daylight and warmer under lamplight, which is why the table names it olive brown. Contrast between field and border is gentle; the strongest note in the rug is the near-white silk in the border palmettes, which sits bright against the olive and gives the edge its definition.

Making

Hand-knotted in India with a pile of wool and silk, the silk used selectively in the motifs so that the pattern lifts and shines while the ground stays matt. The reverse shows the knotting clearly, and the pile is clipped low enough that the fine stems hold their line. The rug is new and in perfect condition, with a modern restraint in its palette that keeps a traditional floral drawing from reading as a period piece.