8' x 8' Round Chinese Aubusson Rug | Black Field with Gold Florals | Excellent Condition

A true circle, not a rectangle cut down: the ivory fringe runs the entire circumference, which tells you this 8' x 8' piece was set up and knotted round on the loom from the first row to the last. The pile is wool on a cotton foundation, hand-knotted, and the drawing is pure Aubusson, a garden of open blossoms and curling leafwork spread across a deep black ground. Round rugs at this diameter are uncommon, and most of what you find in an 8 foot circle is machine made, so a genuine hand-knotted example in excellent condition is worth pausing on. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity that records the size, materials, weave and origin.

Design and Motifs

The layout works as three concentric zones. A slim gold guard line rings an inner circular panel filled with a loose central bouquet, shaded rosettes, buds and feathery leaves that lean outward like a flower head opening. Around that panel the outer field carries a heavier procession of blooms: full peony-style rosettes, lilies with recurved petals, small berry clusters and a woven basket of flowers set at the base, with 4 large scrolling acanthus forms placed at the quarter points to give the circle its structure. The border is a twisted rope band flanked by a narrow chain of leaves and rosettes, finishing in a plain black outer edge that holds the whole composition in. Nothing repeats mechanically here; the flower heads change size and angle as they travel around the circle, which is what separates drawn Aubusson work from a stamped pattern.

Color and Palette

The ground is a deep, even black that reads almost like velvet in the angled photographs, and it does the same job a dark gallery wall does for a painting: everything laid on top of it gains weight. The flowers run through a warm sequence of gold, camel, honey and pale champagne, with apricot and soft rust at the centers of the larger rosettes and clean ivory picking out the highlights on individual petals. Foliage is kept cool on purpose, drawn in grey green, sage and smoke so the leaves recede and the blossoms come forward. Look closely at the close-up images and you can see the outlines around the flower heads sitting slightly proud of the ground, a light relief that catches the light and gives the blooms a carved, dimensional edge. The fringe and the outermost highlights are creamy ivory, which softens the contrast at the perimeter.

Origin and Weaving Quality

Aubusson began as a French flatwoven tapestry tradition, and the style was later taken up in pile by hand-knotting workshops in China, which is where this rug was made. Those workshops built their reputation on exactly this kind of piece: a fine, tightly clipped wool pile that lets delicate floral drawing read clearly, careful color separation, and a level, well finished back. The wool here is dense and springy underfoot with a quiet sheen, and the selvedges and circular edge are neatly wrapped, which matters more on a round rug than on a rectangle because the perimeter has nowhere to hide. If you are weighing how a piece like this sits alongside other handmade work, our guide to what actually separates a Persian rug from an Oriental rug covers the distinction in plain terms.