8'7" x 11'8" Chinese Oriental Rug | French Floral Medallion | Wool and Silk, Never Used

This is a hand-knotted Oriental rug drawn in the French floral manner, woven in wool with silk highlights over a cotton foundation and finished with hand-tied ivory fringe at both ends. At 8'7" x 11'8" it sits squarely in the 9x12 area rugs class, the size most buyers are after for a full seating group or a 8 chair dining table. The pile is clipped low and evenly, so the drawing stays crisp and the silk passes catch light as you walk past, and the back tag photographed in the last image records rug no. F-4355. The rug is new, never used and in perfect condition, and it ships with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The center holds a small burgundy rosette ringed by an ivory 8 petal medallion, which in turn sits inside a wider champagne cartouche edged with tiny rose sprays. Pendant palmettes drop from the medallion at top and bottom, anchoring the composition along the length of the field. Around them the navy ground carries a full allover system of curling vines, split leaves, lotus palmettes and open roses, all mirrored across both axes so the 4 quarters of the field answer each other exactly. The corner spandrels are ivory and much busier than the field, filled with scrolling acanthus, shell forms and flower garlands that spill inward past the field line. A burgundy main border repeats large palmettes alternating with rose and forget-me-not clusters, framed on both sides by ivory guard bands of pale pink scrollwork and thin olive outline stripes. The outermost edge is finished in plain navy, which reads as a clean dark frame from across a room.

A Midnight Navy Field Against Burgundy and Ivory

The field is a deep midnight navy that goes nearly black under low light and opens up to a clear indigo blue in daylight, as the close-up images show. Against it the main border is a true burgundy, a cool wine red with no orange in it, which keeps the whole rug formal rather than bright. The spandrels and guard borders run from ivory through champagne to a soft biscuit beige, with silk highlights making those pale tones shift as the light moves. Scattered through the flowers are dusty rose and salmon pinks, sage and olive greens in the leaves, pale powder blue in the small bud clusters, and touches of soft gold in the vine outlines. There is no harsh white anywhere, only warm ivory, so the palette stays quiet. It works with dark woods, brass, cream upholstery and navy or oxblood accents.

Chinese Workshop Weaving in the French Floral Tradition

This rug was made in China, where fine workshop weaving has long specialized in European floral cartoons in the Aubusson and Savonnerie taste, translated onto a hand-knotted loom. That drawing style is unforgiving: every vine has to turn on a true curve, and a curved line only comes out smooth at a high knot count, which is why looser weaves never look right in this pattern. Here the knotting is tight and regular, the rows sit straight across the back, and the low clip lets the outlines stay sharp instead of blurring into the ground color. The wool is springy with a clean handle, the silk is used sparingly for highlights rather than whole motifs, and the cotton foundation gives the rug a flat, obedient lie on the floor. The navy selvedges are tightly overcast and the fringes are original to the weave, both signs of a piece finished carefully rather than quickly.