9'1" x 12'1" Jaipur Oriental Rug | Herekeh All Over Paisley Design | Black & Camel | Perfect, Never Used

This 9'1" x 12'1" hand-knotted Oriental rug was woven in Jaipur, India, in the Herekeh design: a jet black field carrying an unbroken lattice of curling paisley leaves, wrapped by a wide camel main border. It is a full room size piece, one of the most useful proportions in the house, and it sits squarely within the classic run of 9x12 area rugs. The pile is 100% wool on a cotton foundation, finished with hand-knotted ivory fringe at both ends, and the rug has never been on a floor: the nap still stands straight and the colors are at full strength. Every rug we ship carries a certificate of authenticity confirming it is genuinely hand-knotted, with its size, materials and origin recorded.

Design and Motifs

The Herekeh drawing is built from large curving paisley leaves that meet tip to tip and form an ogee lattice across the whole field, with no medallion and no open ground, which places it firmly among classic all over rugs. Inside each compartment sits an 8 petal rosette, and between them run slender vines carrying small star flowers, buds and lance shaped leaves. The close photographs show how much drawing is packed into each motif: the big paisleys are outlined in 3 and 4 separate colors, striped along their spines like shawl work. The camel main border repeats an alternating sequence of a shield shaped cartouche and a large split palmette, separated by upright flower sprays, and is framed on both sides by narrow guard bands of small cross rosettes and standing leaf forms. The pattern is symmetrical in both directions, so the rug reads the same from either end of the room.

The Black Field and Camel Border Palette

The field is a deep, even black, not a charcoal and not a navy, and it does the same job an unlit background does in a painting: every warm color set against it jumps forward. Against that black the weaver ran rust and terracotta rosettes, soft gold and apricot leaf tips, olive and sage green foliage, burgundy flower hearts and a muted slate blue that appears along the paisley outlines. The main border switches the balance completely to a warm camel and tan ground, so the eye rests there after the density of the field, and the burgundy, sage and salmon motifs inside it echo the field colors without repeating them exactly. A thin black outer edge and the ivory cotton fringe finish the rug cleanly. It is a palette that suits dark wood, brass, walnut and leather, and it hides traffic better than any light ground rug of the same size.

Woven in Jaipur, India

Jaipur, in Rajasthan, is one of the great hand-knotting centers working today, and India is where most of the world's good contemporary hand-knotted rugs are now made. The Herekeh design itself is named for the Hereke court weaving tradition, known for finely drawn palmettes and shawl style paisleys, and it only works when the weave is tight enough to hold a curved line without breaking it into steps. On the back of this piece, visible in the fold and measure photographs, the knots are small and regular, the horizontal rows run straight, and the pattern is as legible from behind as it is from the front, which is the honest test of a hand-knotted rug. The wool is well spun and has a quiet sheen where the light crosses it, the selvedges are wrapped tight, and the handle is firm rather than floppy. Woven new and never used, it will take decades of ordinary household life before it begins to show its age.