Moga Persian Tabriz Gold Black Hand Knotted Wool Carpet 8' x 10'

Moga is the local name for the Persian Tabriz vocabulary as it has been adapted by north Indian workshops over the last hundred years. The pattern is the classical Tabriz medallion-and-corner: a central lozenge surrounded by floral arabesques and bracketed by quarter medallions in the field corners, the whole bordered by a layered band of palmettes and vine. The Tabriz workshops formalised this composition in the sixteenth century and Indian weavers have been refining the same template, often working from the same kind of loom drawings, ever since.

Three weavers shared the loom for about six months. The asymmetric Persian knot was tied row by row by feel against a vertical beam, in wool drawn over a cotton foundation that holds the field flat at the eight by ten scale. Roughly two million knots in total. The dyes were prepared from natural sources and matured in copper vats long enough that the gold ground holds its warm tone rather than turning pale, and the black reads as a true black rather than a charcoal wash.

The composition

A central medallion in deep ivory and rust suspended in a gold field. Black corners step in to balance the eye, with arabesque vine in indigo and copper threading the open space between. The gold is the carrying colour and it does the work the ivory ground does in a Sultanabad: it lifts the design and gives the room its tonal warmth. Under direct light the gold pushes toward honey; in evening light it deepens toward old brass. The wool will polish into a sheen with foot traffic.

What you are buying

An antique Tabriz of this medallion form, with comparable knot density and condition, lists with European dealers in the $8,000 to $25,000 band; nineteenth-century examples reach considerably higher at auction. This is a new weaving in the same Persian tradition, on the same vertical loom, in the same fibre and at the same density. The rug appreciates with use rather than depreciating, and the price sits well below what equivalent provenance commands in the secondary market.

The piece in a room

8' x 10' (244 x 305 cm) sits under a six-to-eight seat dining table or anchors a primary living seating arrangement with a sectional or two facing sofas. The gold ground reads warm against ivory walls, paler stone, and pale oak floors; against walnut or darker timber the black corners pick up the wood and the gold settles deeper. Direct sunlight is welcome here. The vegetable dyes need it to hold their depth.

Conservation

Rotate a half turn each spring and autumn so the field ages evenly. Vacuum weekly with the beater bar off, suction only. Blot spills with clean cotton, never rub. A wool-trained conservator should hand-wash the rug every five years. With this regimen the piece will run eighty to a hundred years and its character will deepen across that time.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 244 x 305 cm (8' x 10')
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot
• Total knot count: ~2 million
• Hands: 3 weavers, ~6 months
• Pile: 9 mm wool
• Dye: vegetable, gold and black palette
• Origin: India

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