8'6" x 11'1" Pakistani Ziegler Rug | Wool | Green and Ivory

An olive green field carrying an all-over pattern of ivory and gold palmettes, framed by a wide straw-gold border, this is a hand-knotted rug in natural wool. At 8'6" x 11'1" it will sit under a sofa and two chairs with pattern still showing at the edges, as the room photograph shows. There is no medallion: the drawing runs evenly from one end to the other, so the rug can be turned without the layout looking wrong.

Design

The Ziegler drawing here is open rather than crowded. Thin rose-brown vines run across the field in a loose diamond lattice, meeting at small eight-petalled rosettes and carrying large cusped palmettes, cloud-shaped blossoms and long serrated leaves that lean away from the stem. Plain green shows between the motifs, which is what keeps the field looking light despite the size of the flowers. The main border, on a straw ground, alternates a broad palmette with a leafy spray, and is held between narrow guard stripes of meandering flowerheads on ivory. The rectangular format is finished with a green outer band and plain ivory fringes at both ends.

Colour

The field is a muted green, closer to olive than grass, and it is not flat: the close-ups show fine vertical striation where the wool takes the dye at slightly different strengths, so the ground shifts between sage and a deeper moss as the light moves. Against it the flowers are worked in ivory and a warm gold that carries straight into the border ground, with outlines and palmette petals in a dusty rust brown. Pale blue-grey centres and a soft rose in the vinework sit quietly between the three main tones rather than competing with them.

Making

Hand-knotted in Pakistan with a pile of natural wool, the rug has a medium-short clip that leaves the drawing crisp, visible in the low-angle photograph where the outlines of a palmette read clearly through the pile. The reverse is even and the pattern reads through it plainly, with ivory warps at the ends. The table records it as new and in perfect condition, with no wear at the edges or ends.