Rugsville Traditional Wool Light Gold & Red Carpet 8' x 10'

The light gold and red palette belongs to the Mahal and Sultanabad lineage of central Persian weaving, where the field was opened out and the saturation softened so the carpet could carry a long room without crowding it. Indian workshops have woven in this idiom for a hundred and fifty years, and the cartoon for this rug descends from that working tradition.

The piece took three weavers about five months on a vertical loom. The wool is hand-spun and dyed in small lots, with the light gold pulled from a careful combination of weld, oak gall, and pomegranate, and the red drawn from madder root matured over two weeks in copper. Knot density sits in the region of 150 per square inch, tied as Persian asymmetric and beaten down by hand against a cotton warp.

The composition

An open field of light gold, with floral repeats in deep madder red and accents of ivory and faded indigo. The gold is the dominant note, but the red carries the eye through the rug along the diagonals. Vegetable dyes do not sit flat; the madder shows as a band of slightly different intensity every few inches, which is the natural register of the dye lot. The carpet warms slowly with use and gains depth as it ages.

What you are buying

A hand-knotted Mahal-tradition wool carpet of this size, density, and dye process is priced at the equivalent of three lakh and above through Western dealers. Antique pieces of comparable design with early twentieth-century attribution have sold at international auction in the same range. The rug appreciates with use rather than depreciating.

The piece in a room

8' x 10' (244 x 305 cm) serves a primary living area or a dining set for six. The light gold ground reads softly against cream plaster, against pale lime-washed walls, and against panelled walnut. The red repeats hold their own across the field rather than crowding into a focal point, which makes the rug easy to live with in a room arranged for daily use.

Conservation

Suction vacuum once a week. Rotate the rug end to end each spring and autumn so light and footfall age the pile uniformly. Treat spills by blotting with a clean cotton cloth from the outside in. A wool-trained conservator should hand-wash the carpet every five years. With sensible handling the piece remains in service for eighty years.

Reference

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

Free delivery anywhere in India. Cash on delivery accepted. 7-day exchange on unused returns.