9'3" x 12'2" Oushak Design Oriental Rug | Brown Field, Ivory Border | Hand-Knotted Wool, Brand New

This 9'3" x 12'2" room-size piece is a hand-knotted wool Oriental rug woven in India in the Oushak tradition, and it is one of the more unusual colorways we carry: a deep brown-black field instead of the usual soft ivory or terracotta ground. The pile is long and loosely packed in the Oushak manner, which gives the wool a visible sheen and a soft, comfortable hand underfoot. It is brand new, never used, with full pile, straight sides, even selvedges and a clean cotton fringe at both ends, as shown in the corner photograph. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming that it is genuinely hand-knotted.

Design and Motifs

The field carries a classic all over floral design built on a lattice of thin ivory vine stems. Large serrated palmettes anchor the center line, alternating between a rose and rust palmette with a dark leaf heart and a pale gold and celadon rosette set in a stepped, angular outline. Between them sit tulip-like blossoms, 4 petal rosettes, small cruciform flowers and broad curled leaves, all drawn with the slightly flattened, generous geometry that separates Oushak drawing from the tighter curvilinear city styles. The main border on an ivory ground repeats a lobed cartouche with a dark scrolling ribbon and rust palmettes at the intervals, framed on both sides by narrow gold guard stripes filled with small florets and reciprocal hooks. The layout is fully symmetrical along both axes, so the rug reads correctly from any side of the room.

A Brown Field With Ivory, Gold and Rust

The ground is a deep chocolate brown that shifts toward black-brown where the light falls away and toward a warm coffee tone in the direction of the pile, an abrash effect that is natural in hand-spun wool. Against it, the drawing is worked in creamy ivory, pale butter gold, soft sage and celadon green, dusty rose, terracotta rust and a muted peach. The main border is a light oatmeal ivory that lifts the whole piece and keeps the dark field from feeling heavy, while the gold guard stripes carry a slightly deeper honey tone. There is no bright or synthetic-looking color anywhere in the palette; everything sits in the low-saturation earth range, which makes this an easy rug to place with walnut and oak furniture, leather, brass and warm white walls.

Woven in India in the Oushak Tradition

India is where most of the world's good contemporary hand-knotted work is now made, and we say that with confidence: the weaving standards in the better Indian workshops, the quality of the wool and the consistency of the dye lots are as good as anything being produced today. This piece was knotted by hand on a cotton foundation with a full wool pile, in the Oushak format that Indian weavers have adopted and made their own, with a low knot count by design so the wool can be left long and lustrous. The weave is even across all 4 corners, the ends are finished with a plain woven kilim and knotted fringe, and at 9'3" x 12'2" it belongs with the standard 9x12 area rugs that sit under a full seating group with furniture legs on.