Rugsville Kashmir Medallion Blue Red Silk Carpet 5' x 8'

The blue-ground Indian medallion is one of those refinements you only see in workshops with the confidence to depart from the textbook. Standard Indian doctrine carries red as the field and reserves cooler colours for accent and border; this composition flips the weighting and the entire effect. The room cools and steadies, the medallion becomes a contemplative centre rather than a glowing focus, and the rug reads as a piece of restrained Mughal scholarship. The five-by-eight scale gives the design enough open field for the indigo to breathe properly.

Two to three weavers worked the loom for close to thirteen months. Pure mulberry silk pile and foundation, the single-knot Indian asymmetric Persian knot tied row by row against the vertical beam. The indigo was prepared in cold vats and the silk was lowered through successive baths over many days, since indigo on silk requires layered building rather than a single dip. Red was drawn from matured cochineal. The pile was sheared to a fine even height to keep the line work crisp at the medallion edges.

The composition

A deep indigo field carrying a central medallion in concentric red, ivory, and gold. Four palmettes mark the cardinal axes, and arabesque vine in ivory and red runs the negative space. Border layers carry cream guard bands flanking a red main band of small floral repeats. The silk sheen makes the field shift between midnight and twilight indigo by viewing angle; the medallion's red is the constant. Under warm lamplight the field deepens and the medallion glows. Under cool daylight the indigo presents at full saturation.

What you are buying

Antique Indian silks at five-by-eight with this blue-ground inversion in intact condition reach $20,000 to $45,000 with specialist dealers when they surface. This is a current weaving in the same Mughal-era lineage, on the same silk-on-silk loom and at the same density. Thirteen months of two- to three-weaver work plus pure mulberry silk for both pile and foundation are inside the price. Silk on silk appreciates with use rather than depreciating, which makes the rug a long-horizon object closer in financial behaviour to art than to flooring.

The piece in a room

5' x 8' (152 x 244 cm) anchors a primary living area under a four-seat coffee arrangement, grounds a primary bedroom at the foot of the bed, or sits in a formal study with a chesterfield and a single reading chair. The indigo reads against ivory walls and settles into walnut or pale oak floors. Pair with brass, dark wood, and patinated metal. Diffused light preferred; long direct sun should be moderated to preserve silk colour.

Conservation

Rotate every six months, half turn each time. Monthly suction-only vacuuming. Blot spills with clean white cotton, never rub. Silk-specialist conservation cleaning every three to five years; do not use wool-only cleaners. Storage rolled face out, never folded. With this care the patina only deepens across multiple decades.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted mulberry silk on silk foundation
• Dimensions: 152 x 244 cm (5' x 8')
• Construction: single-knot Indian, Persian asymmetric
• Hands: 2-3 weavers, ~13 months
• Pile: 5 mm silk
• Dye: natural, indigo field with red accents
• Origin: India

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