Rugsville Kashmir Medallion Red Blue Silk Carpet 4' x 6'

A medallion at this scale and on this fibre is a statement about the workshop that produced it. The silk tradition was codified in the courts of the Mughal emperors and refined over four centuries into a vocabulary of jewel-toned grounds, concentric medallions, and palmette corners that read at any size. At four by six the format moves from devotional to declarative; the medallion becomes a fixed point in a room rather than the focus of a single seat or kneel.

Two weavers shared the loom for close to ten months. Pure mulberry silk pile, silk foundation, the asymmetric Persian knot tied row by row against a vertical beam in the single-knot Indian technique that produces the rug's characteristic fluid drape. Knot density runs higher on silk work than on most Indian wool weaving because the silk filament holds a finer knot. Dyes were drawn from cochineal, indigo, and walnut hull, matured in copper vats and cooled in stages so the red carries the depth and the blue carries the saturation that mark a proper Indian piece.

The composition

A red field carrying a central medallion in concentric ivory, gold, and indigo, four palmettes set on the axes, and arabesque vine in deep blue working the negative space between. The border layers cream guard bands and an indigo main band carrying small floral repeats. Silk shifts the palette under different angles. The field reads warm garnet from one side, cooler oxblood from the other. The rug will gain a soft sheen with use that is impossible to fake on lower-grade fibre.

What you are buying

Antique Indian silks at the four-by-six scale with comparable medallion work and intact condition list with specialist dealers in the $10,000 to $25,000 band. This is a new weaving in the same Mughal-court lineage, on the same kind of silk-on-silk loom, at the same density of work. The price reflects the ten months of two-weaver labour and the cost of pure mulberry silk, both pile and foundation. Silk on silk appreciates with use rather than depreciating, and there is no other floor object with that property at this fibre.

The piece in a room

4' x 6' (122 x 183 cm) anchors a guest bedroom at the foot of the bed, a study under a writing desk, or sits as a focal piece in front of a fireplace or a console. The red ground holds against ivory and bone walls, deepens against muted blue or sage, and pairs with brass, dark walnut, and patinated metal. Diffused daylight is preferred; long stretches of direct sun should be avoided to protect the silk's colour.

Conservation

Rotate twice a year, half turn each time. Suction-only vacuuming, monthly. Spills lifted with white cotton cloth, never rubbed. Silk-trained conservation cleaning every three to five years; keep away from domestic dry cleaners who handle wool only. Stored rolled face out and never folded. With this care the rug will outlive its first owner intact.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted mulberry silk on silk foundation
• Dimensions: 122 x 183 cm (4' x 6')
• Construction: single-knot Indian, Persian asymmetric
• Hands: 2 weavers, ~10 months
• Pile: 5 mm silk
• Dye: natural, red ground with blue accents
• Origin: India

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