Cecille is the in-house design name for a Sultanabad-Ziegler hybrid that an Indian master workshop has been weaving for two decades. The brief was to take the open palmette field of the older Sultanabad and tighten the border slightly, then push the dye process toward the warmer end of the spectrum so the rug reads as a richer version of the classical lineage. The result is a carpet that pairs with both panelled wood interiors and chalk-plaster modern rooms equally well.

Four weavers shared the vertical loom for close to six months. Four weavers worked the upright loom in shifts across roughly six months. Madder root, indigo, walnut hull, oak gall, and pomegranate rind were the dye plants. Each colour matured in copper vessels for two to three weeks. After clipping the rug spent four days in sun and a long mineral wash that mellowed the saturation by two stops into a register that reads as already lived with.

The composition

An open ground in warm cream carrying palmette and vine in measured intervals. The accents are madder rust pulled toward terracotta and a deep indigo that reads almost charcoal in shadow. The border is a single guard band kept narrow so the field does the work. Faint horizontal abrash bands cross the field where neighbouring dye lots sit beside one another, the fingerprint of small-batch plant-dye work that no machine finish can imitate.

What you are buying

Antique Persian palmette carpets at this scale carry estimates of thirty-five to seventy-five thousand US dollars at international auction. This rug shares the loom architecture, the fibre, the Persian knot, and the plant-dye discipline of those antiques. At one and a half lac it appreciates with use rather than depreciating, which is the property no other floor object holds at any price.

The piece in a room

9' x 12' (274 x 366 cm) is the canonical drawing-room scale. The warm palette pairs with walnut casework, brass detail, oxblood leather, terracotta plaster, and a single large work above the sofa. Mid-tone walls hold the colour balance steady. South-light rooms warm the rust further. North-light rooms keep the indigo cooler.

Conservation

Rotate the rug a half turn each spring and autumn. Vacuum weekly, suction only, beater bar off. Blot spills at once with clean cotton, never rub. Hand-wash by a trained wool conservator every six years. With this care the piece crosses a century.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted New Zealand wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 274 x 366 cm (9' x 12')
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot
• Hands: 4 weavers, ~6 months
• Pile: hand-spun wool
• Dye: vegetable (madder, indigo, walnut, oak gall, pomegranate)
• Origin: India

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