9' x 12' Chobi Peshawar Rug | Mamluk Medallion Design | Coral Red & Gold Handspun Wool

This 9' x 12' Chobi Peshawar is a modern hand-knotted reading of the 16th century Mamluk carpets of Cairo, and it is one of the most disciplined interpretations of that layout we have carried. A single octagonal medallion sits inside a wide ivory panel, framed by a deep coral red band of vase and star forms, then released into a broad ivory outer border. The pile is handspun wool on a cotton foundation, with the slightly irregular, hand-dyed tonal movement that separates a genuine Oriental rug from a machine print. It is in excellent, never used condition, and ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming the weave, the materials and the origin.

Design and Motifs

The Mamluk layout is built on concentric frames rather than a sprawling all over field, and this weaving follows that logic exactly. At the center is an 8 sided gold outlined medallion with a small squared core and a rosette at its heart, surrounded by a plain ivory ground that has been left deliberately open so the medallion carries the eye. Radiating outward are rows of arrowhead and cypress sprigs, then a stepped octagonal frame, then the coral red register filled with stylized vases and candelabra forms, each drawn in ivory and gold with the flat, upright symmetry the style demands. The long sides carry a running meander of curling hooks, while the corners resolve into 8 petal rosettes and large stepped stars, clean geometric rug drawing with no crowding anywhere in the field. The outer ivory border is scattered with small hooked palmettes and tiny scrolling stems, a quiet finish to a busy interior.

Color Palette

Coral red is the anchor. It is not a fire engine red and not a brick, it is a warm tomato coral that shifts a shade lighter or deeper across the width as the handspun yarns catch the light, an abrash movement you can see clearly in the border photographs. Against it sit two separate golds: a soft antique gold in the medallion outline and the guard stripes, and a deeper camel gold in the rosettes and star fillings. The inner field and the wide outer border are a warm ivory that leans sand rather than white, with faint sage and celadon ghosting in the open ground where the natural fleece varies. Small accents of pale cream appear in the vase motifs and the corner flowers. The whole palette is low contrast and sun-warmed, which is why the rug reads as calm at a distance and detailed up close, and why it settles easily against oak, walnut and stone floors.

Peshawar Weaving and Chobi Quality

Peshawar in northern Pakistan is the center of the Chobi trade, and the name Chobi refers to the vegetable and natural dye tradition these workshops revived to reproduce the muted palettes of older classical carpets. The wool is handspun rather than machine spun, which is what produces the uneven dye uptake and the soft sheen that a uniform mill yarn cannot imitate. The weave here is tight and even, the pile is clipped low so the drawing stays crisp, and the cotton foundation is straight and square, with hand-finished selvedges and fringes as you can see on the reverse. Peshawar workshops have become the best source in the world for large, decorative hand-knotted pieces in the classical vocabulary, and a room size 9x12 hand-knotted rug of this quality is the size most buyers are looking for and the hardest to find in this condition.