9' x 12'9" Agra Oriental Rug | Midnight Blue All Over Floral | Brand New Natural Wool

This is a brand new, never used 9' x 12'9" Agra rug, hand-knotted in India on a cotton foundation with a 3/8 inch pile of natural wool. It belongs to the family of large room-size Oriental rug weaving that carries the old Agra workshop drawing forward: a dense floral field, a wide flowering main border, and a palette built on one dark ground color. The handle is firm and even, the back is tight and regular, the fringe and selvages are untouched, and the wool has the dry sheen of good hand-spun yarn rather than a shiny finish. It is one of the easiest pieces to live with in the 9x12 Oriental rugs range, and it ships with our certificate of authenticity confirming it as a genuine hand-knotted wool rug.

Design and Motifs

The field is a true all over floral design with no medallion, so the eye travels instead of stopping in the center. Large gold palmettes sit on the vertical axis, framed above and below by split leaf shapes and by a repeating lattice of 8 petal rosettes, lotus heads and small cross-shaped blossoms. Thin salmon and pink vines connect everything, curling into tight scrolls and hooked leaves that keep the drawing in motion across all 12'9" of the length. The ivory main border runs a staggered sequence of burgundy and gold palmettes alternating with rosettes on a slender vine, flanked by two narrow guard stripes of leaf and bud. The 4 corners resolve cleanly, which is the first thing a dealer checks in a traditional border this busy, and the drawing stays symmetrical from side to side.

Midnight Blue, Ivory and Burgundy Colors

The ground is a deep midnight blue that reads almost black in low light and opens into a clear ink blue where the pile catches daylight, which is exactly what buyers of navy blue Oriental rugs look for. Against it the palmettes run in warm honey gold and antique brass, with a softer buttery gold in the larger flower heads and olive brown in the leaves. Burgundy and brick red appear only in small doses, as flower centers in the field and as the strongest accent color in the border, so they punctuate rather than dominate. Ivory and cream do double duty: they light the border and reappear as small white blossoms scattered through the blue, while pale celadon and pink touches sit inside the petals. The overall effect is dark and formal from across a room, warm and polychrome up close.

Agra Weaving and Quality

Agra has been a weaving center since the Mughal court workshops, and the city's name still describes a style: formal floral drawing, generous scale and a heavy wool pile built for large rooms. India is where most of the world's good contemporary hand-knotted work is now made, and this piece shows why. The knotting is tidy and consistent, the rows are beaten down firmly so the pattern holds its outline, and the 3/8 inch natural wool pile is cut low enough to keep the fine vine work legible while still giving the rug weight underfoot. The back photograph shows an even, close knot structure and a straight, square weave with no pull in the sides. At 9' x 12'9" it is a full room-size piece with no visible wear, no repair and no restoration, sold exactly as it came off the loom.