8' x 9'10" Indian Traditional Rug | Wool | Black and Red

A room-sized rug at 8' x 9'10", hand-knotted in India with a 3/8" pile of natural wool. At a glance it reads as a black field carrying large gilt flowerheads, enclosed by a wide dark red border of palmettes and feathered leaves. The pile is cut low enough that the drawing stays crisp, and the ends finish in a pale cotton fringe.

The design

The field is an all-over traditional floral scheme rather than a medallion layout: broad serrated palmettes and sunflower rosettes sit on curling vine stems, with large split leaves turning back on themselves in the corners. Down the centre line, paired cream cartouches enclose small leaf pairs and act as a spine for the repeat, so the pattern mirrors across the width of this rectangular format. The main border alternates an upright lotus palmette with a cluster of feathered acanthus leaves, and two narrow guard stripes of small rosettes and stems separate it from the field and from the plain dark selvedge.

The colour

The ground is a true black with no blue cast, which pushes everything drawn on it forward. The flowerheads are worked in old gold and pale straw, shaded with rose and rust at the petal tips, while the leaves run to olive green and a soft sage. The border ground is a deep burgundy red that sits warm against the black, and the guard stripes are a light beige that repeats in the cream of the cartouches and the fringe. The effect is dark overall, with the gold doing most of the lifting.

The making

This is one of the hand-knotted pieces in our Indian stock, tied on a cotton foundation with a natural wool pile of 3/8", as the close views of the pile and the reverse show. The back is clearly drawn, with the border palmettes legible knot by knot. The rug is new and in perfect condition, with full pile and even edges.