Vintage Patchwork Modern Overdyed Hand Knotted Area Carpet-Cloud 11070 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.

Cuts of antique Turkish and Persian pile, sourced from carpets between sixty and ninety years old, were trimmed to standard rectangles, washed, and reassembled by hand on a cotton backing. The seams were closed with hand-needled wool thread. The composite was then submerged in iron-mordanted oak gall for the overdye, which cools the original palette and pulls the disparate fragments toward a unified tonality. 2 weavers shared the loom for roughly 3 months between cutting, re-knotting at the seams, and the dye work.

The composition

Colour is the unifier. Pattern is the texture under it. Some squares carry their original ivory grounds, lightened further by the wash. Others retain the rust and indigo of their first dyeing, now muted under cloud grey. The rug does not insist; it accumulates.

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

At 4' x 6' (122 x 183 cm) the rug occupies the floor between two facing chairs or anchors a small entry hall. The patchwork geometry holds at this scale because the squares are sized to be read at standing distance.

Conservation

Rotate the rug a half turn each spring and autumn so foot traffic and light age the surface evenly. Vacuum weekly with the beater bar disengaged. Blot spills with cotton, never rub. The seams are the structural element to watch; if a join opens, a wool conservator can re-needle it in an afternoon. Hand-wash by a wool specialist every five to seven 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 (iron-mordanted oak gall)
• Origin: India

Shipped free across India. Cash on delivery available. Seven-day exchange policy.