7'9" x 8'2" Oushak Chobi Square Rug | Green Field, Gold Border | Hand-Knotted Wool, New

A genuinely square format is hard to find in hand-knotted work, and at 7'9" x 8'2" this Chobi Peshawar piece reads square on the floor while still covering a standard seating group. The field is a quiet green, the wide border a warm honey gold, and the whole surface carries the soft antique-wash finish that makes a new rug look like it has been in the family for decades. It is hand-knotted in 100% wool on a cotton foundation, has never been used, and ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming the weave, materials and origin.

Design and Motifs

The drawing follows the classic Oushak formula: no central medallion, instead an all-over vine design built from 2 large crowned palmettes set on the vertical axis, flanked by heavy curling brackets that hook back on themselves like bold calligraphy. Between them float small 8 petal rosettes, serrated leaves and tiny flowering sprigs, drawn loosely and at generous scale so the green ground stays open and restful. The wide main border runs a repeating lotus palmette in gold with grey-green petals, linked by a thin rose colored meander that you only notice up close. Two narrow guard stripes of zigzag braid frame the border inside and out, and the corners resolve cleanly rather than being cut short, which is a sign the weavers worked from a properly planned drawing.

A Soft Green and Gold Palette

The field is a muted sage green with a greyish cast, and it moves: horizontal bands of lighter and darker green run across the ground where the dye lots changed, the natural abrash that only hand-dyed wool gives you. Against it the ornament is drawn in apricot, honey gold and pale beige, with a few motifs filled in ivory so they lift off the green. The border is the warmest note in the rug, a soft golden tan that shades toward peach in the corners, with the lotus hearts picked out in grey-green and outlined in a faded rose red that reappears as thin pencil lines through the vine. There is no harsh contrast anywhere in this rug, so it sits comfortably with pale oak, linen upholstery and warm white walls, and it does not fight with other patterns in the room.

Chobi Weaving in Peshawar

Chobi rugs are woven around Peshawar in northwest Pakistan, where workshops adopted the old Oushak drawing of western Anatolia and married it to vegetable dyes drawn from plants, roots, bark and indigo. Chobi means wood, a nod to those dye sources, and it is the reason the colors stay soft instead of turning garish as they age. The weave here is a firm, even single-knot structure on a cotton warp, with highland wool that has real luster in the pile and takes a light wash well; the back photograph shows tidy, regular rows and straight selvages. If you are comparing this against an Oriental rug from another weaving tradition, the Peshawar Chobi group is where most of today's best decorative hand-knotted work in this muted palette is being made.