9' x 11'9" Peshawar Ziegler Rug | Burgundy Field, Ivory All Over Floral | Fine Gazni Wool

This is a brand new, never used 9' x 11'9" Peshawar in the Ziegler style, hand-knotted in Pakistan with a 3/8" pile of fine Gazni wool on a cotton foundation. It is a true room-size piece, sitting right in the middle of the 9x12 area rug range that most living rooms and dining rooms are built around, and the proportions are honest: a wide ivory main border on all 4 sides holding a deep burgundy field that runs edge to edge with flowering vinework. The wool has the soft, slightly waxy handle that Gazni fleece is bought for, and in the close-up photographs you can see how it throws light back off the ivory blossoms. Every rug leaves Freeport with a certificate of authenticity confirming the size, the origin and the hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The field is an all over floral composition with no central medallion, so the eye travels rather than settles. Large open palmettes alternate with teardrop boteh blossoms, each one outlined in a fine burgundy line and filled with a paler ivory heart, and they are linked by thin arching vines that carry 8 petal rosettes, serrated leaves and small budding sprays. The drawing is deliberately generous: the motifs are big, the spacing between them is wide, and the repeat is soft enough that the pattern never looks mechanical. A slender ivory inner guard separates the field from the main border, which runs a rhythm of round rosettes and shield shaped cartouches joined by a meandering stem. Two narrow outer guards in sage and cream finish the edge before the burgundy selvage, and the pattern closes cleanly at all 4 corners.

A Burgundy Field Framed in Ivory and Sage

The ground is a deep wine burgundy that leans toward oxblood in shadow and lifts to a clear red where the light hits the pile, which is exactly what you want from a large floor piece: it anchors a room without going flat. Against it the blossoms are worked in ivory, bone and a soft parchment cream, with several palmettes shaded in a dusty celadon and pale sage that keeps the field from reading as a simple two color rug. Warm gold washes through the main border and along the vine stems, and thin lines of deep burgundy outline the border rosettes so the frame stays legible from across the room. The overall reading is a rich red and burgundy rug with a large ivory frame, easy to pair with dark walnut furniture, brass, brown leather and cream upholstery.

Peshawar Weaving and the Ziegler Tradition

Peshawar, in northwest Pakistan, is one of the strongest hand-knotting centers working today, and the Ziegler group is its best known product: large scale, open floral drawing taken from the 19th century workshop rugs that were made for European dealers, rewoven now in decorator friendly tones. The wool is the reason these pieces are worth the money. Gazni fleece comes off highland sheep, it is dense and high in lanolin, and it takes color deeply while staying soft underfoot, which is why the ivory motifs on this piece have a quiet silky glow rather than a chalky finish. The knotting is even, the back is tight and regular, the selvages are hand wrapped in burgundy and the fringes are the warps of the cotton foundation, all visible in the reverse photograph. If you are weighing this against other traditional pieces, our guide on what separates a Persian rug from a broader Oriental rug is worth 5 minutes before you buy.