9' x 11' Chinese Aubusson Rug | French Floral Medallion | Salmon & Ivory, 1980s

This 9' x 11' rug borrows its drawing from the great French floor coverings of Aubusson and Savonnerie, then rebuilds it knot by knot in wool on a cotton foundation. It was woven in China in the 1980s, which places it firmly in the semi-antique bracket, and the pile still stands full and even across the whole field. What sells this piece in person is the palette: a washed salmon ground, a wide champagne border and soft sage foliage that read as a genuinely old European room rug rather than a reproduction. Every rug we ship leaves Freeport with a certificate of authenticity confirming that it is hand-knotted, and this is one of the more useful sizes we stock among large 9 x 11 area rugs.

Design and Motifs

The layout is pure 18th century French court drawing. A small oval medallion sits at dead center, ringed by ribbon bands and a scalloped gold cartouche, and floats inside a much larger oval reserve filled with a fine diamond lattice. Around that reserve the field opens into a shaped cruciform panel, its edges drawn with curling acanthus leaves, tied ribbons and sprays of small roses and buds. Each of the 4 corners carries a large shell and leaf cartouche, and the side panels hold trellis fans and urns spilling flowers. The wide ivory border repeats the theme with footed urns, garlands of roses, feathered palmettes and thin flowering vines, closed by a plain salmon outer band. Pile along the main outlines has been clipped slightly lower, a carving technique that gives the scrollwork a raised, almost sculpted edge when the light crosses it.

A Salmon Field with Ivory, Sage and Burgundy

The ground is a warm salmon coral that shifts gently between lighter and deeper passages across the field, the natural variation you get from hand-dyed wool rather than a printed surface. Inside the medallion the tone drops to a pale blush, and the lattice work is drawn in a slightly deeper rose so the pattern reads as texture more than contrast. The border is a soft champagne ivory that photographs almost cream in daylight. Against those two grounds the accent colors do the work: sage and celadon greens in the leaves, deep burgundy and wine in the small blossoms, a powdery blue in the ribbons and rosette centers, and antique gold and camel in the cartouche outlines. It is a quiet, sun-faded palette that suits peach and salmon toned rugs lovers, and it sits easily with cream upholstery, olive velvet and warm oak floors, as the styled photograph shows.

Woven in China in the Aubusson Tradition

Chinese workshops built a serious reputation through the 1970s and 1980s for hand-knotted interpretations of European court designs, and this piece is a good example of that production at its better end. The weaving is regular and the knot lines run straight, which is what allows the curved scrollwork and the fine lattice inside the medallion to hold their shape over an 11 foot length. The back shows an even, tightly packed weave on a cotton foundation, with the original ivory cotton fringe intact at both ends. Wool was chosen over silk here for durability, and 40 years on the pile is still full underfoot with no thin areas. As an Oriental rug with a French design vocabulary, it gives you the softness of an antique European room without the price or the fragility of one.