8' x 9'10" Indian Traditional Rug | Wool | Burgundy and Navy

At 8' x 9'10" this is a medium floor size, knotted in India with a dense, lustrous wool pile. Seen from above it reads as a compartment field, panels of ivory, saffron and soft brown set into a navy ground, with a burgundy medallion holding the centre and a wide burgundy border carrying the whole thing. It is one of the more densely drawn hand-knotted rugs of this layout, with small flowers filling almost every open space.

Design

The traditional layout divides the field into compartments: four ivory octagonal panels at the corners, each filled with a thin leafy vine, paired with smaller panels of rose brown and olive that carry eight-pointed star medallions. Between them run saffron bands of curling arabesque and split leaves, crossing at the centre beneath a cusped burgundy medallion outlined in ivory, whose gold cartouche encloses a navy star and a single pink rosette. The navy ground between the panels is worked with upright flowering stems rather than left plain. The main border repeats a burgundy band of palmettes and serrated leaves, flanked by gold guard stripes of smaller rosettes, and the rectangular outline is finished with a navy selvedge and ivory fringe at both ends.

Colour

The two anchors are a deep burgundy, closer to wine than to brick, in the border and the medallion, and a dark navy in the field, which in the close photographs shows a slight lift toward indigo where the pile turns. Against those sit warm ivory in the corner panels and a clear saffron gold in the cross bands and guard stripes, which is what gives the rug its light. Olive and sage green run through the leaves and small flowerheads in every section, with occasional touches of rose and tan in the rosettes. The effect is dark overall but broken up, so the panels stay legible across the room.

Making

The rug is hand-knotted in India in dense lustrous wool, with a pile short enough to hold the fine outlining in the vines and the medallion edges. The folded corner and the back view show tight, even rows and a firmly bound navy edge. It is new and in perfect condition, with full pile and both end fringes intact.