Rugsville Vegetable dyes Classic Styles Wool Carpet 10' x 14'

Vegetable dye is the older of the two ways to colour a wool carpet, and the harder. Synthetic dye holds steady through the bath, takes thirty minutes to set, and produces the same shade in lot after lot. A botanical dye is alive at every stage. Madder root, indigo leaf, oak gall, and walnut hull are gathered, ground, soaked for days, fermented in copper vats, and then opened to the wool a single dip at a time. The colour the rug carries is the colour the dye master could persuade out of that particular harvest.

This 10' x 14' (305 x 427 cm) classic Sultanabad was tied by three to four weavers over roughly seven months. The pile is New Zealand wool, hand-spun for an even but slightly irregular yarn that takes plant dye well. The foundation is cotton, warped vertically and tensioned by hand. Each knot was set by feel against the beam and combed down before the next row began. Pile height runs eight to twelve millimetres, sufficient depth to carry the colour shifts vegetable dye produces without losing the crispness of the drawing.

The composition

An open ivory and soft cream ground carries an all-over floral repeat in faded brick rust, deep indigo, and old gold. The pattern is a continuous field rather than a centred medallion, which lets the eye land anywhere on the rug. The border is restrained, a single broad indigo guard band rather than the layered borders that mark commercial work. The colour is not stable. It will deepen, lift, and shift across the next decade.

What you are buying

Comparable vegetable-dyed Sultanabad pieces with workshop attribution and clean condition sell through the major Western houses and the established dealer market in the range of three to seven lakh. The MSRP on this rug reflects that comparable. The price asked is well below it because Rugsville works direct with the loom. Hand-knotted vegetable-dyed wool on cotton is one of the few floor objects that genuinely appreciates with use rather than depreciating.

The piece in a room

10' x 14' (305 x 427 cm) is the working scale for a generous formal drawing room or a long dining setting. The cream-and-indigo palette pairs with walnut, oak, brass, restrained period furniture, and either oil painting or modern abstract work. Mid-tone walls hold the colour best. Direct sunlight is welcome; UV restores the dye depth that interior light slowly washes out.

Conservation

Rotate the rug a half turn each spring and autumn so traffic and light age the piece evenly. Vacuum weekly with the beater bar disengaged. Blot any spill with a clean dry cotton cloth, never rub. Schedule a wool hand-wash by a trained conservator every five years. Cared for this way the carpet runs eighty to a hundred years and develops the soft patina older Sultanabads are valued for.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted New Zealand wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 305 x 427 cm (10' x 14')
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot
• Hands: 3 to 4 weavers, ~7 months
• Pile: 8 to 12 mm, hand-spun wool
• Dye: vegetable (madder, indigo, oak gall, walnut hull)
• Origin: India

Free shipping across India. Cash on delivery available. 7-day exchange after the rug arrives.