Rugsville Agra Wool Tan & Ivory Hand Knotted Carpet8' x 10'

Mughal-era Agra weavings are noted in the historical record for three things. The fineness of the knotting, the elegance of the floral drawing, and the depth of the colour. Of those three, the floral drawing is the hardest to reproduce because it depends on a designer who understands how a tendril resolves at the corner of a medallion and how a vine breaks against a border. The pattern in this carpet was drawn in the same idiom by a designer trained in the Agra school, then transferred to the loom and tied by hand.

Two weavers shared the vertical loom in India for around five months. Roughly 2.3 million knots tied against a cotton warp, every one set by feel. The wool is hand-spun, longer-staple than mill yarn, which is why the floral work reads with depth rather than as flat colour. After the carpet was cut down from the loom it was washed three times in cold water and laid in the sun, the protocol that gives Agra carpets their soft sheen and their characteristic hand.

The composition

A warm tan ground carries floral and vine work in ivory, soft rose, and faded olive. The central medallion is drawn in the classical Agra register, with the corner pendants resolved into the field rather than walled off by border lines. Tan and ivory together create the contrast that lets the floral work read at any light level. The colour will deepen with age as the wool oxidises, and the ivory will warm into bone over the next decade.

What you are buying

Antique Agra carpets at this scale and condition trade at international auction in the range of $20,000 to $50,000 when they appear. This is a new weaving in the same tradition. Same loom, same fibre, same knot count, same finishing protocol. The carpet appreciates with use rather than depreciating, which is what separates a hand-knotted floor piece from anything else you place on a floor. A hand-knotted Agra is also one of the few categories of contemporary carpet that holds value at resale.

The piece in a room

8' x 10' (244 x 305 cm) is the working scale for a formal living room with a three-seat sofa and two flanking armchairs floated above the carpet. It also sits comfortably under a six-seater dining table. The Agra palette reads naturally against limewashed cream walls, against stone, and against rosewood and teak furniture. Brass and copper metalwork carry the warmth of the wool through the rest of the room.

Conservation

Rotate every six months so traffic and light age the pile evenly. Vacuum weekly with suction only, beater bar disengaged. Blot spills immediately with cold water and a clean cotton cloth. A professional wool wash by a trained conservator every five years lifts ground-in dust. With this care the carpet outlives its first room.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 244 x 305 cm (8' x 10')
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot
• Hands: 2 weavers, ~5 months
• Pile: 10 mm
• Origin: India

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