9'8" x 13'4" Indian Oushak Rug | Aubergine Purple Field, Gold Border, Serrated Leaf Palmettes | New

This 9'8" x 13'4" Oushak is a new, never used hand-knotted room-size piece with a wool pile on a cotton foundation, and it is one of the more unusual color statements we carry. Instead of the ivory or soft gold ground most Oushak drawings sit on, the weaver set the whole composition on a smoky aubergine purple field, then wrapped it in a broad marigold gold border. The drawing is angular and confident, the pile has a low sheen that shifts as you walk around it, and the back is even and tight from edge to edge. At just under 10 by 13 feet it works as a full anchor piece for a large room, and it sits squarely in our 10x13 rugs group. Every rug we ship, this one included, leaves with a certificate of authenticity identifying the weave, materials and origin.

Design and Motifs

There is no central medallion here. The field runs as an all-over design, built around 4 large serrated lancet leaves, 2 in marigold gold and 2 in burgundy, that meet nose to nose at small ivory rosettes along the center axis. Between and around them sit paired fan-shaped palmettes with split arms, drawn in teal, olive green, ivory and gold, each one carrying tiny blossoms and curled hooks inside its body. Along the lower end of the field 2 broad urn forms hold blue lattice panels, flanked by leafy sprays. The open ground is filled with small 4-petal crosses, stepped diamonds, single rosettes and little bird-like hooks, the kind of scattered filler that keeps a big field from reading flat. The wide gold main border alternates angular star flowers with leafy blossom clusters, and an ivory outer band of paired buds finishes the composition before a plain aubergine edge and ivory fringe.

Color Detail

The field is a grey-leaning aubergine, closer to a dusty plum or eggplant than to a bright violet, and it carries a fine natural variation from row to row that keeps the large open ground alive. Against it the main border reads as a saturated marigold gold, warm and slightly orange in the low-angle photos, separated from the field by a pale gold guard stripe with a thin red serrated line running through it. The motif palette is deliberately broad: deep burgundy and wine red in the lancet leaves and the large lower palmettes, sage and olive green in the palmette bases and border leaves, 2 distinct blues in the ornaments, a soft teal and a clearer light blue, plus ivory, cream and small rust orange accents. The outer guard band is a sandy ivory. Read as a whole, the rug is a cool purple base carrying warm gold and red ornament, which is why it sits comfortably with charcoal, walnut, brass and cream furnishings.

Origin and Weaving Quality

The Oushak drawing comes out of western Anatolia, where the large-scale palmette and lancet leaf vocabulary was developed for grand rooms, but this rug was hand-knotted in India, which is where most of the world's best contemporary hand-knotted work is now produced. Indian workshops have the hand-spun wool, the natural dye programs and the depth of trained weavers to execute a 9'8" x 13'4" piece cleanly, and this one shows it: straight sides, square corners, a flat handle with no buckling, and a back with even, well-packed rows. The wool is spun with enough loft to give the pile body while still holding a crisp outline on every motif, which is what lets the serrated leaf edges stay sharp at this scale. If you are weighing the terminology before you buy, our guide on what actually separates an Oriental rug from other categories explains where a new Indian Oushak like this one belongs.