Rugsville Mahal Oriental Vegetable dyes Wool Carpet 8' x 10'

Mahal carpets emerged in the late nineteenth century from villages in the wider Sultanabad weaving region, made for export to Edwardian and early-American markets that wanted a carpet which could carry a large room without dominating it. The drawing is large in scale, open in field, soft in palette, and disciplined in border. The Mahal in front of you sits squarely inside that drawing tradition.

Three weavers shared the loom for around five months to complete this 8' x 10' carpet in India. The pile is hand-spun wool, dyed entirely with vegetable preparations: madder root for the rust and rose, indigo for the blues, oak gall and pomegranate rind for the yellows and soft greens, walnut hull for browns. The dye baths were prepared in copper vats over open flame and matured for two to three weeks before the wool entered them, the slow process that gives vegetable colour its depth.

The composition

An ivory field carries an open central drawing in faded madder rust, indigo, and walnut brown. Vine work runs corner to corner with the relaxed asymmetry only a hand-prepared cartoon allows. The border is single, restrained, drawn in the same indigo as the field accents. Vegetable colour does not arrive at full saturation; over the first decade the rust will lighten, the indigo will deepen, and the ivory will warm into bone. The carpet matures rather than fades.

What you are buying

Period Mahal carpets from the 1880 to 1920 window with comparable drawing and condition sell at international auction at twenty to fifty thousand US dollars when they appear at all. This is a new weaving in the same drawing language, the same loom geometry, the same vegetable system. The carpet appreciates with use rather than depreciating. There are very few household objects of which that is true.

The piece in a room

8' x 10' (244 x 305 cm) sets a primary living room or a six-to-eight seat dining footprint. Vegetable-dyed wool reads warm against pale plaster, putty, and natural lime walls; it sits well against walnut, oak, and brass. The carpet expects to be the considered ground under furniture, not the loud event in the room.

Conservation

Rotate end for end every six months so light and footfall age the surface evenly. Vacuum weekly with the beater bar disengaged. Blot spills with a clean cotton cloth, never apply hot water to vegetable-dyed wool. Direct sunlight through a window will gently mature vegetable colour rather than damage it. A wool-trained conservator should hand-wash the rug every five years.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted hand-spun wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 244 x 305 cm (8' x 10')
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot
• Hands: 3 weavers, ~5 months
• Pile: hand-spun wool
• Dye: vegetable (madder, indigo, oak gall, walnut)
• Origin: India

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