6' x 9' Pakistani Chobi Rug | Wool | Gold and Antique Red

A 6' x 9' hand-knotted rug from Pakistan, worked in natural wool in the antique Soltanabad manner: a wide gold field carrying an all-over vine, enclosed by a deep red border. From a standing height the two halves read as one warm block of colour, and it is only closer in that the drawing separates into leaves, rosettes and thin red stems.

Design

The field has no medallion. A lattice of pale serrated leaves and fine red vines runs corner to corner, hanging palmettes, star rosettes and small bud sprays off its curves, and the repeat is loose enough that no two quarters of the field look identical. The main border sets large cream and salmon palmettes with curling acanthus leaves against red, alternating with smaller green-centred rosettes, and it is framed on both sides by narrow guard stripes of beige and pale gold carrying a running flowerhead and leaf. Ends finish in plain gold fringe, visible in the corner and fold photographs.

Colour

The field is a warm gold, closer to ripe wheat than to brass, and it shifts a shade lighter or darker with the direction of the pile. Against it the border reads as antique red, a softened brick with a slight orange cast where the light catches the nap. The drawing is outlined in cream and pale sage, with green kept to thin outlines and leaf centres rather than used as a mass, and small accents of salmon pink, saffron and dark madder sit inside the larger flowers.

Making

Hand-knotted in wool on a rectangular format, in the Chobi tradition of Pakistan, where the pile is clipped low so the fine stem work stays legible. The fold in the tenth photograph shows the back: an even, close knot with the pattern clearly repeated on the reverse. The table records the rug as new and in perfect condition, with full pile and intact fringe at both ends.