Rugsville Ikat Sari Silk Beige Carpet 4' x 6'

Ikat is a resist-dye discipline, not a weave. The yarn is bound and dyed in patterned bundles before any of it touches a loom, so the figures in the cloth carry a soft edge that no print can imitate. Central Asian, Indonesian and Indian traditions all converge on the technique.

About around four months on the loom, with Two hands at work. The yarn was tied off and dyed in small batches before weaving began, then strung on the warp with the figures already embedded. Every irregularity in the registration is built into the medium.

The composition

A beige register runs through the composition as the structural colour. The geometry is sized to be read whole at standing distance and to reward inspection from a low chair beside the rug. Plant dye gives the surface its slow tonal drift; the slight unevenness across the field is the visible argument for the medium and is what keeps the piece from looking printed. From across the room the field gathers into one quiet ground; on close approach the small irregularities become visible as life in the surface.

What you are buying

Antique workshop carpets in this tradition with comparable scale and condition appear at international auction at multiples of this price when they appear at all. This is a new weaving on the same kind of loom, in the same fibre, to a comparable density. The rug appreciates with use rather than depreciating, which is not a property any other object on a floor can claim at any price.

The piece in a room

4' x 6' sits naturally beside a bed, under an entry console, or in a reading nook beside a deep armchair. At this scale the rug reads as a punctuation mark in the room rather than as the ground. The detail in the field is meant to register at close range, where the slow look is possible. Pairs well with leather, walnut, and warm-white walls; pale terrazzo and polished concrete sharpen the contrast.

Conservation

Hand-knotted construction holds for decades on a simple care regimen. Rotate the piece every six months. Vacuum suction-only weekly. Treat spills with a damp cloth from the outside in. Have the rug professionally hand-washed by a conservator at five-year intervals. With this attention the piece runs a working life that comfortably exceeds the lifespan of any other domestic furnishing in the room.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 4' x 6' (122 x 183 cm)
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot, hand-tied row by row
• Knot count: approximately 0.6 million knots
• Hands: 2 weavers, around four months
• Pile: 8 to 10 mm, hand-spun wool
• Dye: vegetable, small-batch copper-vat process
• Origin: India

Free shipping pan-India. Cash on delivery available. Seven days to return or exchange after delivery.