Ziegler is a name attached to a design rather than a place. A German firm working out of Manchester opened buying rooms in western Persia in the 1880s and asked weavers to soften the dense floral repeats of the classical Persian tradition into airier, more drawable fields suited to Anglo-American interiors. The rug in front of you continues that brief, with a brown ground holding a long all-over vine in muted earth tones rather than the crowded medallions of older Tabriz.

Four weavers shared the vertical loom for close to six months. Wool was hand-spun from long-staple New Zealand fleece, plied for tensile strength, and tied in Persian asymmetric knots against a cotton warp. The dye lots were prepared from walnut hull, pomegranate rind, madder root, and indigo, each colour matured for two weeks in copper vats before the wool was lowered. After clipping, the rug was sun-dried for several days and given a long mineral wash that softened the saturation toward antique register.

The composition

A warm brown field with a sand-coloured palmette repeat traveling corner to corner. The border is restrained, a single guard band rather than the layered borders that turn lesser Zieglers fussy. Looked at from across a room the field reads as a single warm wash. Step closer and the vine resolves into individual rosettes, leaves, and tendrils. The brown will lift a half shade over the first decade as the pile relaxes and the natural lanolin in the wool finds the light.

What you are buying

Period Ziegler Sultanabads from 1890 to 1920 in this scale carry estimates of forty to ninety thousand US dollars at the major rug auctions when condition is comparable. This rug is woven on the same vertical loom, in the same Persian knot, in long-staple wool, to a density a working weaver would recognise. At one and a half lac it is priced against the cost of replacing a sofa rather than against the auction comparable. It appreciates with use rather than depreciating, which is not true of the sofa.

The piece in a room

9' x 12' (274 x 366 cm) is the canonical drawing-room scale. The brown field welcomes a ten-seat dining table or a deep sectional with all furniture legs sitting on the wool. Cream walls let the rug ground the architecture. The palette flatters walnut, brass, oxblood leather, and a single large painting in a saturated hue.

Conservation

Half-turn the rug each spring and autumn so foot traffic and light age the field evenly. Vacuum weekly with beater bar off. Blot spills with clean cotton, never rub. Hand-wash by a wool-trained conservator at the seven-year mark. With this care the rug crosses a century in regular use.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted New Zealand wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 274 x 366 cm (9' x 12')
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot
• Hands: 4 weavers, ~6 months
• Pile: hand-spun wool
• Dye: vegetable (walnut, pomegranate, madder, indigo)
• Origin: India

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