8'10" x 12' Serapi Oriental Rug | Ivory Field, Black Medallion | Hand-Knotted Wool, Never Used

This is a brand new, never used hand-knotted Oriental rug woven in Egypt on a cotton foundation with a full wool pile, drawn in the bold Serapi manner: one big stepped medallion, heavy corner spandrels, and an open ivory field left to breathe. At 8'10" x 12' it sits in the most useful of all room sizes, and buyers shopping 9x12 area rugs will recognize the proportions immediately. The pile still has its full height, the ends are clean and the fringe is untouched, exactly as it left the loom. Every rug we ship carries a certificate of authenticity confirming it is genuinely hand-knotted.

Design and Motifs

The Serapi drawing is all about scale and confidence. A black eight sided medallion anchors the center, filled with angular flowering vines and crowned at its core by a rust cartouche holding an ivory 8 petal rosette, with stepped pendants running north and south to the ends of the field. Around it, the ivory ground is filled with long lobed cartouches and large single blossoms on thin hooked stems, each flower given its own space rather than packed into a repeat. The 4 corner spandrels are deep rust and carry coiled spiral palmettes with gold and sage rosettes tucked into the angles. The main border runs black with a serrated leaf and blossom vine, framed by ivory guard stripes of small linked rosettes. Anyone drawn to this kind of angular, architectural drawing should also look through our geometric rugs collection.

Ivory, Black and Rust in Balance

The field is a warm ivory, closer to unbleached cream than to white, and it is the reason the rug reads as light in a room despite the dark frame. Against it the medallion and main border are a deep black that shows real navy depth where the light catches the wool, giving the outline weight without turning heavy. The spandrels and the medallion center are a brick rust, slightly oxidized in tone rather than bright, and that rust is picked up again in the smallest border rosettes so the eye travels from corner to corner. Secondary colors do the quiet work: sage and gray green leaves, soft gold palmettes, salmon and blush blossoms, and thin charcoal outlines that keep every motif crisp. It is a three color rug at a distance and a six color rug up close, which is what makes it easy to place with both warm and cool furnishings.

Woven in Egypt: Hand-Knotted Quality

Egypt has been a serious weaving country for centuries, going back to the Cairo court workshops of the Mamluk period, and its modern ateliers produce some of the most consistent hand-knotted wool rugs available today. This piece shows it: an even, tightly packed knot across the whole 8'10" x 12' surface, straight selvages, square corners and lines that hold true from one end of the field to the other. The back photograph with the ruler shows the knot count and the clean cotton warps that make the rug lie flat. The wool is a good, springy grade with enough lanolin to take light and resist crushing, which is what you want in a rug this size, since a 9x12 spends its life under furniture and foot traffic. Hand-knotted, honestly made, and built to be used for decades.