Rugsville Traditional Serapi Gray Wool Persian Carpet 63411

Serapi is the trade name applied to the finer grade of Heriz weaving from the late 1800s, when American and British dealers sought a softer palette and slightly looser knot than the standard village output. The pattern carries the same angular medallion vocabulary as its Heriz cousin, with more open ground and a paler dye register.

The carpet was set up at a vertical loom, where a small team of weavers worked it for several months. Knot count consistent with the pile depth and the loom configuration the workshop uses for this design. The pile is long-staple New Zealand wool, spun in modest batches and dyed before it ever reached the loom. The dyes were drawn from madder root, indigo, walnut hull, and oak gall, prepared in copper vats and matured for two to three weeks before the yarn was lowered.

The composition

A grey ground that sits between cool and warm, depending on the cast of the light, and which lets the pattern read as a quiet drawing. The pattern carries the angular medallion vocabulary of the Heriz village school in a slightly more open field, with a quieter ground and a softer dye register than the trade-grade Heriz of the same period. Wool of this grade settles into use rather than wearing out. The pile compresses, the colour matures, the surface picks up the small irregularities that distinguish a knotted carpet from a printed copy.

What you are buying

Antique Serapi carpets with comparable composition and pile, when they appear at all at Christie's, Sotheby's, or Rippon Boswell, sit in a price band that the new weaving in the same tradition will not approach for two generations. The rug appreciates with use rather than depreciating, which is a property no other object on a floor carries at any price. The cost per year over a sixty-year working life puts the piece below the cost of a printed reproduction with a five-year horizon.

The piece in a room

At the size as listed the rug carries a primary room without dominating it. Mid-tone walls hold the saturation. Direct sunlight helps the dye depth that interior light slowly washes out. The pattern reads at a distance and rewards approach with the small irregularities only a hand-knotted carpet carries.

Conservation

Reverse the rug end-for-end each spring and autumn. Vacuum weekly on suction only, never with a rotating beater. Blot spills with a clean cotton cloth, working from the outside of the spill in. Conservator hand wash every five to seven years keeps the dye open and the foundation supple.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted New Zealand wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: size as listed
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot
• Knot density: ~120 KPSI
• Hands: a small team of weavers, several months
• Pile: 10 mm long-staple wool
• Dye: vegetable (madder, indigo, walnut hull, oak gall)
• Origin: India

Shipping anywhere in India is on us. Cash on delivery available. 7-day return window if the piece does not sit right in the room.