8'9" x 12' Wool & Silk Oriental Rug | Sage Grey All Over Floral | Fine Hand-Knotted in India

This is a quiet room-size piece that rewards a second look. Measuring 8'9" x 12", it is hand-knotted on a cotton foundation with a wool and silk pile, and the silk is used with restraint, carried through the flower heads and the finer vine work so the surface shifts between matte and sheen as you walk past it. The drawing is dense and traditional, the palette is low contrast and almost entirely neutral, and the finish is a clean cut pile with flat selvages and hand-knotted ivory fringe at both ends. It is in excellent condition throughout. Every piece we sell, including this hand-knotted Oriental rug, ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming its origin, materials and construction.

Design and Motifs

There is no medallion here. The field carries a continuous all over floral repeat built on a lattice of thin scrolling vines, with open 8 petal rosettes set at the crossings and smaller buds, leaf sprays and split palmettes filling the ground between them. The repeat mirrors across the center axis, which is why the layout reads as ordered rather than busy despite the amount of detail packed into it. Framing the field is a layered border system: a wide main band of connected palmettes and cartouche-like floral units, flanked by narrow guard stripes of running vine and a plain ivory outer stripe that lifts the whole composition off the floor. All 4 corners resolve cleanly, with the border drawing turning properly instead of being cut off, which is a straightforward test of how carefully the design was mapped before weaving began. At 8'9" x 12" the pattern has room to repeat several times in both directions, so the eye reads texture and rhythm first and individual flowers second.

A Muted Grey, Sage and Ivory Palette

The field is a soft grey with a faint sage green undertone, the kind of neutral that behaves differently at each end of the day. Against it the pattern is drawn in cream and chalk ivory for the rosettes and the larger flower heads, with a warmer pale gold and light tan carrying the vine work, the stems and the outlining. The border sits a shade warmer than the field, a gold-flecked beige that gives the piece a visible frame without introducing a hard color break. There is no black, no red and no strong navy anywhere in the weave, so the total contrast range is narrow and the effect is tonal rather than graphic. The silk content is where the color really moves: as the light angle changes, the silk-highlighted flowers brighten to near white while the wool ground stays matte, giving the surface a shot-silk shimmer that photographs poorly and looks excellent in person. This is a practical palette for grey, greige, oak and walnut interiors, and it hides everyday traffic far better than an ivory field would.

Hand-Knotted in India: Origin and Weave Quality

India is where most of the world's best contemporary hand-knotted work is now produced, and this piece is a fair example of why. The weaving centers of northern India have spent decades refining fine wool and silk production for the export trade, and the result is a weave that supports curvilinear drawing: the vines here bend smoothly, the rosette outlines stay round, and the fine gold stems hold their line without stepping. That only happens at a high knot count on a tight cotton foundation. The wool is well spun and clipped at a medium-low height so the detail is not buried, while the silk accents are placed rather than scattered. Handled from the back, the piece is supple and even, with straight sides and square ends, and it lies flat immediately once unrolled. For buyers shopping the standard room format, it slots straight into the 9x12 rug size range while running a few inches narrower, which suits a seating group with the front legs of the sofa and chairs resting on the pile.