Tribal carpet design developed in the nomadic and semi-settled communities of West and Central Asia and was adapted by Indian weavers in the twentieth century into a vocabulary of bold geometric figures, ram horns, hooked diamonds, and gul forms set against deep saturated grounds. Gold and burgundy are the canonical tribal palette, the burgundy from madder, the gold from a yellow over-dye baked over a paler ground. This rug carries that tradition forward at room scale.

Three weavers shared a single loom for around six months in India to complete the 9' x 12' (274 x 366 cm) field. The pile is hand-spun wool on a cotton foundation, with the weavers reading the design from a memorised cartoon rather than from a printed graph. The result is the slight irregularity in the geometric figures that distinguishes a hand-knotted tribal piece from a copy.

The composition

A burgundy field carries a central column of gold geometric medallions, flanked by smaller gul figures and bracketed by a layered border in ivory and indigo. The colours sit at high contrast but the burgundy is not flat; it carries the abrash, the natural variation in pigment that comes from each batch of dye taking the wool slightly differently. Over a decade the gold will warm into honey and the burgundy will deepen.

What you are buying

A nine-by-twelve hand-knotted tribal wool rug in this palette, made to this density, would price at three to four times its MSRP at a London or New York dealer. The piece is a contemporary weaving in a long tradition, on the same kind of loom, in the same fibre. Hand-knotted rugs of this calibre appreciate with use rather than depreciating.

The piece in a room

9' x 12' (274 x 366 cm) is the canonical drawing-room or formal dining scale. The rug expects a full ten-seat table or an L-shaped sofa above it as the room's anchor. The deep burgundy and gold sit best against ivory or pale plaster walls; the contrast carries to the architecture. Pairs with walnut and rosewood furniture, with brass lamps, with leather upholstery in tobacco.

Conservation

Rotate a half turn each spring and autumn so the field ages evenly. Vacuum weekly with the beater bar off. Blot spills with a clean cotton cloth, working from the outside of the spill inward. Hand-wash by a wool conservator every five to seven years. With this care a tribal piece of this construction outlives its first two owners.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted hand-spun wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 274 x 366 cm (9' x 12')
• Construction: asymmetric knot
• Hands: 3 weavers, ~6 months
• Pile: medium, hand-spun wool
• Origin: India

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