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

By the late seventeenth century, the looms at the Mughal silk workshops had reached a level of fineness no other tradition has matched on a regular production basis. The silk medallion is the direct inheritor of that workshop knowledge, with the same vocabulary of central lozenge, axial palmettes, and arabesque vine carried forward into the modern format. At five by eight the composition unfolds at room scale rather than as a private object, with proportions calibrated for the social rooms of a contemporary home.

Two to three weavers shared the loom for close to thirteen months. Pure mulberry silk pile, silk foundation, the asymmetric Persian knot tied in the single-knot Indian technique. The fibre is drawn fine enough that the curving palmette stems and the medallion's concentric rings resolve cleanly without the stair-stepping that coarser knot densities produce. Dyes were sourced naturally and matured in copper vats, cooled and re-bathed where the saturation needed depth.

The composition

The red field carries a central medallion in concentric ivory, indigo, gold, and rose, with four large palmettes set on the cardinal axes and a network of finer arabesque vine connecting them. Multi-layered borders run cream guard bands either side of an indigo main band of repeating small florals. The silk catches the light by angle, so the field shifts in tone across the day from warm crimson at morning to cooler garnet by lamplight. The patina the silk gains over years cannot be replicated on synthetic fibres.

What you are buying

Antique Indian silks at five-by-eight with comparable medallion construction and intact condition reach $20,000 to $45,000 with specialist dealers when they surface. This is a new weaving in the same Mughal lineage, on a comparable silk-on-silk loom and at a comparable density. Silk-on-silk appreciates with use; it is the only floor fibre with that property at any price. The thirteen months of two- to three-weaver labour and the cost of pure mulberry silk for both pile and ground sit underneath the price you see.

The piece in a room

5' x 8' (152 x 244 cm) carries a primary living area, sits under a four-seat coffee table arrangement, or grounds a study with a chesterfield and reading chair. The red ground holds against ivory, bone, and pale stone walls, and pairs with brass, dark walnut, and patinated bronze. The rug expects diffused light. Long-term direct sun should be moderated to preserve the depth of the natural dye.

Conservation

Rotate a half turn every six months so the wear and the light age the field evenly. Suction-only vacuuming, monthly, no beater bar. Blot spills with clean white cotton, never rub. Silk-specialist conservation cleaning every three to five years. Storage rolled face out. With this care the silk only deepens in patina 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, red field with blue accents
• Origin: India

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