9'10" x 14'4" Chinese Aubusson Flat Weave Rug | Black Floral Tapestry Field | Recent, Unused

This is a flat woven Aubusson in the grand European manner, made in China at 9'10" x 14'4" and never put on a floor. There is no pile at all: the wool is woven flush to the foundation the way a tapestry is, so the drawing stays razor sharp and the whole piece lies thin and flat under furniture. Across nearly 141 square feet the weavers built an unbroken garden of roses, tulips, pomegranates and curling acanthus over a deep black ground, with a soft brown garland border wrapping the outer edge. It is an Oriental rug built for a formal room, and one of the more usable pieces in our 10 x 14 rug group. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The field is a true all over floral composition anchored by an oval center medallion packed with open roses, daisies and small star blossoms. Four enormous acanthus scrolls sweep out from the corners toward that oval, each one shaded across 5 or 6 tones so the leaf appears to roll over itself. Above and below the medallion sit woven flower baskets, one clearly visible in the close-up, with a fluted gold vessel holding cabbage roses and tulips. Between these anchors the weaver filled every inch with buds, trailing vines, pomegranates and curled tendrils, leaving no empty black space larger than a fingertip. The main border carries a continuous garland of daffodils, tulips, grape clusters and broad leaves, framed inside and out by fine striped guard bands and an outermost brown band of small 5 petal flowers. The black outer edge is bound tight and clean, and the corner drawing resolves properly on all 4 corners rather than being cut off.

Color

Black does all the work here. It is a dense, matte, unrelieved black across both field and main border, and because there is no pile to catch light it reads as a flat void behind the flowers rather than a dark shade of gray. Against it the palette stays deliberately soft: dusty rose and antique pink in the roses, deeper raspberry and wine at the flower hearts, apricot and honey gold in the tulips and the basket, and a muted sage to olive green through the leaves. Large portions of the foliage are woven in a pale dove gray and greige that acts almost as silver, which is what gives the rug its faded tapestry look. The brown outer band is a warm russet, the one genuinely earthy note in the piece. There is no harsh white anywhere, only cream and ivory highlights on petal tips, so the whole thing feels aged and quiet despite being unused.

Origin and Weaving Quality

Aubusson is a French weaving tradition, and for the last few decades the finest hand woven reproductions of it have come out of Chinese workshops, which is where this one was made. The technique is flat tapestry weave rather than knotted pile, and it is unforgiving work: the weaver has to carry each color across only as far as the drawing allows, then lock it against the next, which is why the curved leaves and shaded petals here required so many separate wool bobbins. The result is a rug that weighs far less than a knotted piece of the same footprint, sits almost flush at a doorway, and shows the cartoon with the clarity of a painting. Condition is perfect and the piece has never been used, so the wool still has its full body, and at 9'10" x 14'4" it also works handsomely hung on a large wall as a tapestry.