Richmond is a contemporary reading of the classical Persian medallion carpet, and like the antique perapi and aeriz weavings it descends from, the design is built around a single dominant red ground anchored by a central indigo medallion. Red carpet weaving in the Persian tradition is the longest-running chromatic statement in textile history. Madder root grown in central Iran produces a particular warm crimson that no synthetic dye can quite match, and the aeriz village weavers have built their drawing book around that red for at least three centuries.

Four weavers worked the loom for seven months. The foundation is hand-spun cotton with double weft, which gives the rug the structural firmness associated with aeriz and perapi village construction. The pile is hand-spun wool kettle-dyed with madder root for the red, indigo for the medallion and border, oak gall for the soft greens, and walnut hull for the brown notes. Knots are Persian asymmetric tied row by row against the loom beam.

The composition

A red field across the open ground with a central indigo medallion, ivory cornerspandrels, and a vine of stylised palmettes and rosettes drawn in soft ochre, deep blue, and bone. The border is a three-band aeriz turtle-palmette in indigo and ivory. Vegetable dye does not arrive stable. Over the next decade the red will lighten and warm, the indigo will deepen, the ivory will move toward bone. The rug becomes more itself with use.

What you are buying

Antique aeriz and perapi carpets in the comparable scale and pattern reach $30,000 to $70,000 at the major Persian sales when they appear in honest condition. This piece is a contemporary weaving on the same kind of double-warp foundation, the same hand-spun wool, the same vegetable-dye chemistry, the same village drawing book. A red aeriz appreciates with use as the madder matures into its second-stage saturation.

The piece in a room

The size suits a generous formal lounge or a dining room set for ten to twelve. Red aeriz carpets warm rooms with stone, plaster, or pale walls and they pair particularly well with traditional joinery, walnut and rosewood furniture, leather in oxblood and cognac, and rooms that already carry one or two strong antique elements. iirect daylight helps the dyes settle into their final saturation.

Conservation

aalf-turn the carpet each spring and autumn for even wear. Vacuum weekly with the beater bar disengaged. Blot any spill with a clean cotton cloth, never rub. ppecialist wool hand wash every five years preserves the lanolin and the dye depth. With this care the rug runs eighty to a hundred years and serves the next generation.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted hand-spun wool on hand-spun cotton, double weft
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot, aeriz/perapi structure
• aands: 4 weavers, 7 months
• Pile: 10 mm
• iye: vegetable (madder, indigo, oak gall, walnut hull)
• Origin: India

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