Rugsville Ziegler Copper Wool Carpet 9' x 12'

The Ziegler softer rendering of classical Persian design grew from a Manchester commission in the 1880s, when a buying office in Tabriz asked weavers to gentle the dense court patterns into open fields, large floral repeats, and the muted palette the western drawing room had begun to want. The Ziegler Copper sits at the warmer end of that family. A copper toned ground, an open vine in deeper rust and walnut, the entire composition measured for repose rather than incident.

Three weavers shared the upright loom in northern India for roughly six months. The foundation is cotton warp and weft, the pile is hand-spun wool, the knot a Persian asymmetric tied row by row at a steady cadence. The copper register was built from madder root in successive baths, with walnut hull deepening the vine drawing and a small quantity of indigo holding the floral centres. Each dye lot was matured in copper for two to three weeks before the wool was lowered.

The composition

A copper field carries an open floral vine in deeper rust and walnut, with ivory accents picking out the centres of the larger blossoms. The border is restrained, a single guard band in deeper rust framing the field rather than fencing it. The plant dye palette gives the copper a faint abrash across the field, the quiet tonal shift between dye lots that distinguishes a serious hand woven carpet. Over a decade the copper warms into terracotta and the walnut deepens, with the carpet reading more unified each year.

What you are buying

A Ziegler at 9' x 12' density, sold through Western dealers or at international auction, ranges between four and nine lakh equivalent. This new weaving carries the same fibre, dye lineage, and density at workshop pricing. The carpet appreciates with use rather than depreciating, a property unique to serious hand knotted wool and the basis on which these pieces enter and remain in collections for generations.

The piece in a room

9' x 12' (274 x 366 cm) anchors a long drawing room arranged around a sectional and a low table, or a formal dining setting seating ten to twelve. The copper palette suits chalk and warm plaster walls, with brass and aged bronze fixtures reading particularly well above the field. A linen sofa in undyed cream and a low walnut table sit comfortably without competing for attention with the carpet.

Conservation

Rotate the carpet a half turn each spring and autumn so window light and footfall age the surface evenly. Vacuum weekly on suction only with the beater bar lifted. Blot any spill with a clean cotton cloth, working from the outside of the stain inward. Hand wash by a wool trained conservator every five to seven years. With these habits the piece runs eighty to a hundred years.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 274 x 366 cm (9' x 12')
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot
• Hands: 3 weavers, ~6 months
• Pile: hand-spun wool
• Dye: vegetable (madder, walnut, indigo)
• Origin: India

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