Rugsville Ziegler Traditional Floral Beige Wool Carpet 5' x 8'

The Ziegler design originates with a Manchester firm that opened a buying office in western Iran in 1883. Its commission was simple. Soften the dense floral repeats of Persian classical tradition into a quieter, open field that suited the drawing rooms of late Victorian Britain. The pattern set down on this loom is a direct continuation of that long conversation between East and West.

Two weavers shared the loom for 4 months. Around 691 thousand hand-tied knots at roughly 120 per square inch, every one set against a vertical beam by feel. The pile is long-staple wool, prepared in small batches and lowered into copper vats for plant-based dye drawn from indigo, weld, oak gall, and walnut hull, each colour matured for two to three weeks before the wool is dyed. The foundation is cotton, hand-spun and tensioned across the warp before the first row of knots is tied. The fringe at either end is the warp itself, knotted off and trimmed by hand once the rug comes off the loom. The piece reads at 5' x 8' (152 x 244 cm) in beige, finished in India.

The composition

Vinework in beige runs corner to corner with the irregular grace plant dye produces. The pattern is denser at the centre and opens toward the borders, so the eye reads the rug as a single composition rather than as a tile that repeats. The rosettes are drawn at a scale that registers from across a room without losing their internal detail to anyone who walks closer.

What you are buying

Antique Ziegler carpets of equivalent attribution sell at Rippon Boswell and Sotheby's in the range of thirty to seventy thousand US dollars when they appear at auction. This is a new weaving in the same lineage, on the same kind of vertical loom, in the same fibre. The rug appreciates with use rather than depreciating, which is a property no other floor object holds at any price.

The piece in a room

5' x 8' (152 x 244 cm) sits under a two-seat sofa and a narrow coffee table, or anchors a writing desk in a study. The beige register holds against pale walls and against warm wood floors with equal authority. Position the sofa with the front legs on the rug and the back legs on the floor. The composition holds at a low viewing angle from a seated position, which is the angle most of the day will be spent looking at it.

Conservation

Keep the rug out of direct sunlight for prolonged hours per day to slow the natural lightening of plant dye. Vacuum with suction only. Rotate twice a year. A wool-trained conservator should hand-wash the piece every five years. Properly cared for, the rug runs three generations.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted highland wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 152 x 244 cm (5' x 8')
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot
• Hands: 2 weavers, 4 months
• Pile: 10-12 mm
• Dye: vegetable and chrome blend, colour-fast
• Origin: India

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