Vintage Patchwork Modern Overdyed Hand Knotted Area Carpet-Autumn 11067 4' x 6'

An overdyed patchwork is two acts of authorship laid over each other. The first weaver, sometime in the early twentieth century, set the pattern. The second hand, working a generation later, dissolves the original colours under a single saturating bath and lets the geometry come back through the wash.

The fragments were cut from worn but structurally sound village rugs from the wider Persian and Turkish weaving regions, with the squares chosen for sound foundation rather than for pattern. After matching for pile height, they were stitched onto a cotton ground and submerged in a vat of madder root and onion skin dye for the overwash. 2 weavers shared the loom for roughly 3 months between cutting, re-knotting at the seams, and the dye work.

The composition

Up close, the rectangles disagree. One holds a cypress motif, the next a stepped medallion, the next an unornamented field. The overdye argues for a single read; the underlying pile keeps insisting on its sources. The tension is what gives the rug its energy.

What you are buying

What the price reflects is the cost of the antique source carpets, the labour to cut and reassemble them, and the dye bath. The mathematics work out close to the cost of a new hand-knotted rug at the same density, without the long cultural depreciation that affects new production.

The piece in a room

4' x 6' (122 x 183 cm) is the foyer or accent scale. The rug works under a console, beside a bed as a runner companion, or at the foot of a reading chair. The rust register sits comfortably against natural wood floors and lime-washed walls.

Conservation

Suction-only vacuuming, weekly. Half-turn rotation each season. Blot spills with cotton; the overdye is fast at the surface but a soaked spill can wick into the foundation. Hand-wash by a wool-trained conservator every five to seven years. Cared for this way, the rug runs sixty to eighty years.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted wool on cotton foundation, antique pile fragments rejoined
• Dimensions: 4' x 6' (122 × 183 cm)
• Construction: cut, re-knotted, and overdyed
• Approximate density: 100 KPSI across the reassembled field
• Hands: 2 artisans, roughly 3 months end to end
• Pile: 8 mm wool
• Dye: vegetable overwash (madder root and onion skin)
• Origin: India

Free shipping in India, with cash on delivery. Returns accepted within seven days.