8' x 8'2" Round Oriental Rug | Traditional All-Over Floral | Hand-Knotted Wool & Silk

Round rugs in this size are hard to find well drawn, and this 8' x 8'2" piece is one of the better ones we have handled. It is hand-knotted with a fine wool and silk pile on a cotton foundation, clipped low so the drawing stays crisp, and the circle is true, which matters more than buyers expect when a rug has to sit under a round table or centre a foyer. The black field carries a mirrored all-over floral vine with no central medallion, framed by a wide burgundy border and slate blue guard bands, and the ivory fringe runs the full circumference. Condition is excellent, with full even pile and clean sides, and the rug ships with our certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The field is a classical all-over floral, drawn as a continuous lattice of thin curving vines that branch into 8 petal rosettes, open palmettes, lotus heads and small clusters of 4 petal blossoms, with feathery leaves filling the gaps. The layout mirrors across the diameter rather than radiating from a medallion, which is the older and more difficult way to draw a round rug, since the pattern has to read correctly from every side of the room. The frame is a 5 band system: a narrow ivory ribbon stripe, a slate blue guard of alternating flower heads and buds, the wide burgundy main border with a meandering vine and large facing blossoms, a second slate blue guard, and a fine black outer edge that closes the circle before the fringe. Close inspection of the border detail shows the small serrated leaves and paired buds articulated in only a few knots each, which is the clearest sign of a careful workshop drawing rather than a coarse commercial copy.

A Black Field Read Against Burgundy and Slate Blue

The ground is a deep inky black with no blue cast, and because the pile carries silk in the highlights, the field shifts between charcoal and near jet depending on where you stand. Against it the flowers are worked in ivory and cream, soft butter beige, sage and olive green in the leaves, and stronger notes of rust, terracotta and coral in a handful of the larger rosettes, with a few small blossoms picked out in pale blue and dark aubergine. The vine stems are a dusty tan rather than a hard brown, which keeps the black field from looking busy. The main border is a dark burgundy that leans toward oxblood and wine, cool rather than orange, and the two slate blue guard bands with their grey green tint are what give the rug its calm rather than dramatic character. The ivory ribbon stripes and the ivory fringe brighten the outer edge and tie the border back to the cream flowers in the centre.

Made in China: Weave and Quality

This is a Chinese workshop piece woven in the classical floral idiom, the tradition of finely knotted hand-knotted Oriental rugs that took the old court drawing and reproduced it at a high knot count on a cotton warp. The reverse view with the ruler laid across the border shows what you are buying: small, tight, evenly packed knots in straight rows, a hand-woven kilim end rather than a machine finish, and fringe that is the warp of the rug itself rather than something sewn on. That density is why the fine vine work holds its shape and why the low clipped pile will wear slowly under a dining table. If you are weighing this against a Persian piece, our guide on the difference between Persian and Oriental rugs explains what changes and what does not.