Rugsville Ziegler Beige Light Blue Wool Persian Carpet 9' x 12'

Ziegler is a design name rather than a place. In the 1880s a Manchester firm with a buying office in north-west Persia commissioned local workshops to soften the dense, dark florals of the high classical period into something that would suit the airier interiors of late Victorian and Edwardian homes. They opened the field, raised the value of the ground colour, and reduced the borders to a single quiet band. The pattern in front of you descends directly from that nineteenth-century commission and has been in continuous production since.

Three weavers shared the loom for roughly six months. Hand-spun wool, knotted against a cotton warp at the medium density a Ziegler is built for, around 200,000 knots per square metre. The pile uses an open palette of beige and pale blue with secondary touches of soft rose, the dye drawn from indigo, madder, and weld in the traditional manner.

The composition

A beige field, the colour of wheat in low sun, carries a wide-set vine of pale blue. The blue is not stable. It shifts between cornflower and dusk depending on the time of day, the way only an over-dyed indigo can. The border is a single muted band, and the corners do not interrupt the field. Everything in the rug works to keep the air around the figures intact.

What you are buying

Antique Zieglers from the 1890 to 1920 period sell at international auction in the range of twenty to sixty thousand dollars when condition is intact. This is a new weaving in the original drawing tradition, in the same fibre, on the same kind of loom, at the same density. The rug appreciates with use rather than depreciating. A Ziegler is the rare floor object that returns more than it costs.

The piece in a room

9' x 12' (274 x 366 cm) is the classical drawing-room scale the design was built for. The rug carries a long sofa with a pair of armchairs and a low table, or a ten-seat dining table, with all furniture floating on top of the pile. Walls in pale plaster, chalk, or warm grey hold the soft blue. Direct natural light is welcome and brings the indigo forward.

Conservation

Rotate one hundred and eighty degrees each spring and autumn. Vacuum weekly, suction only, beater bar off. Blot spills with a clean cotton cloth from the outside in. Hand wash by a conservator trained in wool every five years. With this care the rug lasts eighty years and longer.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 274 x 366 cm (9' x 12')
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot
• Knot density: ~130 KPSI
• Hands: 3 weavers, ~6 months
• Pile: 9 mm wool
• Colour: beige ground with light blue floral
• Origin: India

Free shipping anywhere in India. Cash on delivery available. Seven-day exchange. Arrives crated for safe transit.