8' x 8' Indian Traditional Rug | Wool | Ivory and Brown Square

This rug measures 8' x 8', a true square, and was hand-knotted in India with a wool pile. From above it reads as an ivory ground covered edge to edge in dark floral work, with a wide border of the same weight running all four sides and short knotted fringe at top and bottom. At a glance the drawing is dense and the palette narrow, so the rug behaves like a single warm neutral across a room rather than a pattern that pulls the eye to one point.

Design

The traditional field is an all-over repeat rather than a medallion layout: rounded palmettes and rosettes sit inside curling leaf cartouches, with large serrated acanthus leaves and long boteh-shaped leaves filling the space between them. The repeat is mirrored left to right and top to bottom, which suits the square format, and the central rosette in image 6 is only slightly larger than its neighbours. A narrow inner guard stripe separates the field from the main border, where alternating round florettes and curved leaf forms run in a steady rhythm; the outer guard carries a small repeating flower head. Each motif is outlined in dark brown, which is what gives the pattern its cut-out, almost engraved look in the close photographs.

Colour

The ground is a warm ivory that leans towards cream and picks up a light gold cast under strong light, as in the room photograph. Against it the drawing works in two registers: a deep brown, near to bitter chocolate in the outlines and the darkest leaves, and a muted olive green that fills most of the rosettes and palmettes. Between them sit softer shades, a dusty rose-tan and a pale putty, used for highlights inside the flower heads so the motifs do not flatten into silhouettes. The plain ivory selvedge and fringe carry the field colour out to the edge.

Making

Hand-knotted in wool, with the knot grid visible on the reverse in image 10 and 14. The pile is cut at a medium height, dense enough to hold the fine outlining seen in the field details, and the fold in image 11 shows the handle is still supple. The table records the rug as new and in perfect condition, with no wear, repair or colour loss in any of the photographs, and it is one of the hand-knotted rugs we carry in a full square format.