8' x 10' Indian Traditional Rug | Wool | Brown and Beige

An 8' x 10' rug hand-knotted in India in natural wool, with a dark brown field carrying an all-over floral drawing in gold, cream and pale sage, framed by a wide sand-beige border. The ground is dark enough that the flowers read almost as light on a shadow, and the pile has enough lustre to shift a shade or two as the viewing angle changes. The format is rectangular with a plain brown outer edge and cream cotton fringe at both ends.

The design

The field is an all-over traditional floral system rather than a medallion layout: fan-shaped palmettes and round serrated rosettes strung along thin scrolling vines, with lotus blooms, small lanceolate leaves and a scattering of curled tendrils filling the ground between them. The drawing mirrors along the long centre line, so the large palmettes on the left have twins opposite, and small open rosettes mark the axis at intervals. The main border alternates a dense cream and gold rosette with a leafy palmette lying on its side, each one picked out in crimson, and a narrow vine stripe runs along either side of it. A thin sage guard stripe separates the border from the field, and the binding at the outer edge is solid brown.

The colour

The field is a deep coffee brown, close to black where the pile lies away from the light and warmer where it lies toward it. Against that the flowers are old gold, straw, ivory and a soft green in the celadon range, with thin crimson outlines that give each motif a visible edge rather than letting it blur into the ground. The border is a pale sand beige, several steps lighter than anything in the field, which is what makes the brown centre read as a block. Small dots of dark red punctuate the border rosettes and keep the beige from going flat.

The making

Hand-knotted in India with a natural wool pile on a cotton foundation, the rug is listed as new and in perfect condition, with full even pile, straight edges and no wear at the ends. The close photographs show clean knot lines and tight outlining on the small motifs, and the back shows the pattern coming through clearly enough to count the vine work. It measures 8' x 10', or 96" x 120".