8' x 8' Indian Tabriz Mahi Round Rug | Wool and Silk | Brown

A round rug measuring Width: 8' x Length: 8' across, hand-knotted in India in the Tabriz Mahi manner. The field is a dark brown so deep it reads almost black at a distance, filled edge to edge with the small diamond-and-fish lattice that gives the design its name, and a single pale medallion sits at the centre of the circle. Two concentric border bands, one ivory and one black, carry the pattern out to a white fringe. At 8' x 8' it covers a round dining table with a comfortable margin of floor left over.

Design

The Mahi, or fish, layout works at two scales at once. Across the field, rows of tiny diamonds each hold a four-leaf rosette and a pair of curved lancet leaves, the shapes that the trade reads as fish turning around a pool, repeating in a strict grid that follows the curve of the rug without breaking step. The centre holds one lobed medallion with a finial at top and bottom, its interior worked in fine scrolling vinework around a small cruciform core, and the ivory ground of the medallion makes it float clear of the dark field. The main border runs a black ground set with palmettes and turtle motifs linked by a thin vine, framed inside and out by narrower guard stripes of flowerheads on ivory. Because the format is circular, the border reads as a continuous ring with no corner resolutions at all.

Colour

The field is a dense brown, close to a dark coffee, and in raking light the brown separates clearly from the black of the border ground. Against it the lattice picks out ivory, soft sage green, apricot and a dull coral, with occasional points of madder red and a rare slate blue in the flowerheads. The medallion is ivory shading to pale green at its outline, warmed inside by rose and salmon. The ivory guard stripes and the cream fringe lift the whole circle and keep the dark field from closing in.

Making

Hand-knotted in India, where this Persian design has been woven for decades in its own right. The pile is wool and silk, the silk used sparingly in the medallion and the small motifs where the extra sheen shows, and the knotting is fine enough to hold the lattice crisp at a very small scale. The back shows a close, even weave with a straight selvage and hand-tied warp fringes. Condition is excellent, with full pile throughout. One of many hand-knotted rugs we carry in this format.