9'1" x 11'9" Indian Oriental Rug | Black Sheik Safi Medallion Design | 200 KPSI Brand New

This is the Sheik Safi design, the medallion and vine scheme associated with the shrine of Sheikh Safi al-Din at Ardabil, reworked here as a brand new hand-knotted piece at 9'1" x 11'9". It is a genuine 9x12 area rug in natural wool on a cotton foundation, knotted at roughly 200 knots per square inch, which is a serious count for a room size piece and shows in how small the individual flower heads are. The pile is thick, the weave is tight and even from end to end, and the rug has never been on a floor. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity that records the size, materials and construction.

Design and Motifs

A round 16 point medallion sits dead center, built from a small ivory rosette inside a ring of curling arabesques on a burgundy ground, with slender pendant lamp forms hanging from it along the long axis. Around that, the field is a continuous all over lattice of scrolling vine, serrated leaves, palmettes and small cloud bands, with pairs of ivory and green cartouche shaped panels and quatrefoil rosettes floating at regular intervals. The 4 corners carry large spandrels that repeat the medallion drawing in quarter form, so the composition reads correctly from any side of the room. Framing it all is a wide burgundy main border of alternating palmettes and rosettes joined by a thin vine, set between multiple guard stripes: an ivory meander, a narrow sage green floral stripe and a fine outer black line finished with ivory fringe.

A Black Field Lit by Burgundy, Green and Gold

The ground is true black, dense enough that the drawing seems to float above it rather than sit on it. Against that darkness the palette runs warm: deep burgundy in the medallion core, the spandrels and the main border, camel and antique gold in the vine work, and soft rose and salmon in the smaller flower heads. Cooler notes keep it from going heavy, with sage and teal green through the leaves and one guard stripe, muted blue in the scrollwork, and clean ivory picking out rosette centers and the meander bands. Under lamplight the gold and ivory tones lift and the field reads almost brown black; in daylight the greens and blues come forward. It is a dark rug that behaves like a jewel box rather than a hole in the floor, which is exactly why this scheme works over pale stone, oak or a light plush floor.

Made in India: Weaving Town Tradition and Weave Quality

India is where most of the world's best contemporary hand-knotted work is now made, and this piece is a fair example of why. The weavers followed a classic court cartoon line for line, kept the curve of the vine intact at 200 knots per square inch, and finished the rug with a firm black selvage and hand-tied ivory fringe. Turn the corner over and the back shows the design as sharply as the front, knot rows straight and consistent, which is the honest test of a good Oriental rug. The wool is high lanolin and takes light well, so the pile has a quiet sheen instead of a flat matte surface, and at this density it will compact rather than shed under traffic.