Rugsville Fariba Kashmir Silk Hand knotted Multi Carpet 2'6" x 15'

Silk runners woven on the looms of northern India trace their lineage to the Mughal court ateliers of the seventeenth century, where master designers translated Persian floral grammar into a finer, more luminous medium. The narrow runner format developed in tandem with the long stone corridors of palace architecture, where a strip of silk could lead the eye from one chamber to the next without breaking the proportion of the hall. The pattern in this piece sits in that long tradition of corridor weaving.

One weaver worked this runner over roughly six months on a vertical loom in India. Pure mulberry silk forms both the foundation warps and the pile, which is why the surface returns light at every angle the way water does at dusk. Each knot was tied by hand against a cotton-cord reference, the design read line by line from a graphed cartoon pinned above the loom. The result is a 2'6" x 15' (76 x 457 cm) piece carrying several hundred thousand individual knots in mulberry silk.

The composition

A central trellis of paired vines runs the length of the runner in soft rose, ochre, and lapis, framed by a measured ivory ground that lets the colour breathe. Multi-tonal accents in jade and old gold pick up the inner medallions. Silk reflects differently when read with the pile and against it, so the piece appears to lighten and deepen as you walk its length. Over the years the rose will pull toward terracotta and the lapis will settle into a quieter blue.

What you are buying

Antique silk runners of comparable length and density, when they appear at Bonhams or Rippon Boswell with early twentieth century attribution, transact between $4,000 and $9,000. This is a new weaving in the same tradition, on the same kind of loom, in mulberry silk. The runner appreciates with use rather than depreciating. Few floor objects keep that property over a generation of ownership.

The piece in a room

2'6" x 15' (76 x 457 cm) is the canonical scale for a long entry hall, an upstairs landing that runs past three or four doors, or the floor of a private library between bookcase walls. The multi colour palette settles against limewash and lime plaster, against painted wainscot, and against polished teak floorboards. Avoid placing the runner under heavy console legs; the silk reads best with light foot traffic and unbroken sightlines.

Conservation

Rotate end for end every spring so light wear distributes evenly across the length. Vacuum monthly, suction only, beater bar disengaged, in the direction of the pile. Blot any spill immediately with a clean cotton cloth, never water. Hand wash by a silk-trained conservator every six to seven years. Stored properly between uses, the runner will pass to a second owner intact.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted mulberry silk on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 76 x 457 cm (2'6" x 15')
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot
• Hands: 1 weaver, ~6 months
• Pile: 5 mm mulberry silk
• Origin: India

Free shipping anywhere in India. Cash on delivery available. 7-day exchange. The runner ships rolled on a cardboard core inside a protective sleeve.