8' x 12' Oushak Oriental Rug | Black Field, Ivory Medallion, Burgundy Border | New Indian Wool

This is a new, never used hand-knotted room size piece measuring 8' x 12', woven in India in the Oushak tradition with a 3/8" wool pile on a cotton foundation. The drawing is unusually confident for a current production rug: a deep black field opens into a cusped ivory and old gold center panel, and the whole composition is framed by a wine burgundy main border and soft sage guard stripes. The wool has the slightly waxy sheen you see in photos 6 and 7, which is what gives the black its depth instead of a flat matte look, and the weave is tight and even across all 96 inches of width. Because the palette runs dark at the center and light at the edges, the rug reads as formal without feeling heavy. Every rug we ship, including this one, comes with a certificate of authenticity confirming that it is hand-knotted and describing its size, material and origin. If you want to understand where a piece like this sits in the market, our guide to the difference between Persian and Oriental rugs is worth 5 minutes.

Design and Motifs

The layout is a classic Oushak center medallion set inside a reserve, rather than floating on open ground. At the heart of the ivory field sits an elongated 8 lobe medallion in sage and dusty mauve, with a small red and olive rosette at its core and tiny cross shaped accents at the cardinal points. Flanking it are two large serrated burgundy palmettes, and above and below the medallion are crowned burgundy cartouche flowers, each one anchoring a spray of curling leaves, carnations and small blossoms. The black surround is drawn with heavy split leaf arabesques and broad feathered leaves in gold, olive and ivory, the kind of bold cloudband scrollwork that makes the field edge look almost architectural, as seen clearly in photos 6 and 7. Both ends of the field close with a green panel carrying a row of tulips, buds and arched palmette shapes on a thin vine. The triple border scheme runs outward from a narrow ivory meander into the wine burgundy main band of palmettes, large serrated leaves and candelabra flower stems, then into pale sage guard borders of linked rosettes and star florets. Look closely at the corners in photos 4 and 8 and you will find a small woven bird tucked into the guard stripe, a weaver's touch rather than a drawing error.

A Black, Burgundy and Green Color Story

The dominant color is a true deep black, soft rather than inky, with faint abrash where the light catches the pile so it never looks printed. Against it, the inner field is a warm ivory that shades toward antique gold and light honey, and that contrast is what carries the rug from across a room. The main border is burgundy, a wine red with a trace of plum in it, cooler and more restrained than the bright madder reds you see on village rugs. Between field and border sit two green tones: a mid sage green in the end panels and a paler pistachio green in the guard stripes, both muted enough to bridge the black and the burgundy rather than compete with them. Accent knots pick up dusty rose, slate blue, pale mauve, cinnamon and cream in the small flowers and rosettes, which is why the rug sits comfortably with both cool grey upholstery and warm wood tones. The selvage is overcast in black and the fringe is natural ivory cotton, a crisp finish line visible in photos 4 and 5. If a dark, formal palette is what you are after, our full range of red and burgundy rugs is a useful place to compare shades.

Woven in India in the Oushak Tradition

India is where most of the world's good contemporary hand-knotted work is now made, and this rug is a clear example of why. The Oushak design vocabulary of large palmettes, bold leaf scroll and generous borders came out of the old western Anatolian workshops, and Indian weaving centers have spent decades refining it for room size production, using heavier hand-spun wool and softened dye lots that suit modern interiors. The knotting here is regular and dense enough to hold the curved line of the medallion and the fine stems in the guard borders, and the back shown in photo 9 is flat and tightly packed, with clean color definition knot by knot. The 3/8" pile gives the surface real body underfoot while keeping the drawing crisp, and good hand-knotted wool of this kind is built to be walked on for generations rather than replaced. At 8 feet by 12 feet this is genuine furniture scale, and you can see how it compares with other large hand-knotted rugs or browse more Oriental rugs in the same tradition.