9' x 12' Sultanabad Oriental Rug | Dark Teal All Over Floral | Made in India, Never Used

This is a brand new, never used hand-knotted wool rug in the classic Sultanabad idiom, and at 9' x 12' it covers a full seating group without the field pattern being swallowed by furniture. The ground is a deep, slightly smoky teal, filled edge to edge with large palmettes, lotus blossoms and serrated leaves, then framed by a wide ivory border carrying rosette cartouches on a brown vine. The wool is thick and lustrous, with a soft sheen visible where the pile is rolled back, and the back shows an even, tightly packed knot line on a cotton foundation. It ships with our certificate of authenticity confirming it as a genuine hand-knotted Oriental rug, and it belongs in the same conversation as our other 9x12 Oriental rugs.

Design and Motifs

The field is drawn as an all over floral design built on a loose lattice: heavy curving leaf stems arch up from the bottom of the field, cross near the center and create ogival compartments, each one anchored by a big open palmette or a fan shaped lotus with 8 to 10 petals. Smaller rosettes, 4 petal blossoms and tiny buds fill the ground between the larger blooms, so there is no empty space but no crowding either. The border system runs 5 bands deep: a narrow dark outer guard, a rust and sage zigzag minor stripe, the broad ivory main border with its diamond cartouches and curling split leaves, then matching inner guards that step neatly around all 4 corners. The corner resolution is clean, with the vine turning rather than being cut off, which is the mark of a properly worked cartoon rather than a quick copy.

The Color Palette: Dark Teal, Rust and Ivory

The dominant note is the field, a dark teal that reads almost ink blue under low light and clearly green blue in the close-up photographs, giving the whole rug a cool, antique depth. Against it the weaver has set warm tones: brick and tomato rust in the palmette petals, soft peach and blush pink in the inner petals, caramel gold in the leaf stems, and small touches of mustard and olive in the flower centers. Ivory appears twice, as outlining inside the field flowers and as the full ground of the main border, where the color warms toward beige and light camel. Sage green and a pale aqua turn up in the border leaves and in scattered field blossoms, cooling the rust so nothing shouts. Cream cotton fringe at both ends and a dark teal selvage close the rug off. It is a palette that sits comfortably with walnut and oak furniture, cream upholstery and warm brass or copper.

Woven in India: Sultanabad Design, Workshop Weave

India is where most of the world's good contemporary hand-knotted work is now made, and this piece, woven in the Jaipur weaving belt, shows why. The weave is a medium fine workshop quality: the back is tidy and regular, the knot rows are straight, and the wool has been spun and dyed with enough care that the teal holds a single even tone across 12 feet of length. The pile is left substantial, which suits a floral Sultanabad drawing because the thicker nap softens the outlines slightly and gives the flowers the slightly blurred, settled look of an older carpet-weaving tradition. Finish details back this up: hand overcast selvages, hand knotted fringe, and heavy enough construction that the rug lies flat immediately. It is new and unused, so you get the full life of the pile ahead of you.