Vintage Patchwork Modern Overdyed Hand Knotted Area Carpet-Lime Yellow 11078 8' x 10'

Lime yellow as an overdye is one of the most contemporary readings the patchwork process produces. The colour belongs to the citrus rather than the lemon, and the bath has to hold a bright acidic edge without drifting either toward green or toward gold. The older wool absorbs the dye at varying intensities, and the unevenness is what makes the field interesting rather than flat.

Older hand-knotted carpet sections were sourced, sheared down to a flat working pile, and washed clean of their original dye. Two artisans worked the dye phase over roughly four months, lowering each section into a lime yellow bath for forty-eight hours at controlled temperature. A finisher stitched the patches to a cotton backing and gave the surface a final hand-shear to six millimetres.

The composition

A field of bright lime yellow that varies in saturation from patch to patch, some sections holding a denser citron note and others reading closer to chartreuse. The seams between patches are quiet. Underlying carpet patterns ghost through as faint tonal shifts. Under daylight the field reads as pure pigment, and under lamplight it warms by half a stop into something closer to old gold. Over two years the colour will settle and the wool will gain the slight polish older fibre develops.

What you are buying

Comparable patchwork overdyes from European studios are listed at four lakh and above by Western dealers. This is hand-knotted wool work in the same construction, sourced direct from the Indian workshop. The piece appreciates with use rather than depreciating, the inverse of almost every other domestic object on the floor.

The piece in a room

8' x 10' (244 x 305 cm) brings a high-key colour statement into a sitting room or a study. The lime yellow ground reads against white plaster, against bleached oak floors, and against linen upholstery in pure white or pale oatmeal. It pairs with brass lighting, with mid-century furniture, and with art that uses cool grey or black grounds. The rug expects to be the brightest element in the room.

Conservation

Suction vacuum weekly. Rotate end to end each spring and autumn. Blot spills with a clean white cotton cloth, never coloured. Avoid bleach. A wool conservator should hand-wash the rug every five years to restore lanolin and lift embedded dust.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted wool patchwork, overdyed
• Dimensions: 244 x 305 cm (8' x 10')
• Construction: original Persian-asymmetric knot, re-stitched
• Hands: 2 artisans and 1 finisher, ~4 months
• Pile: 6 mm
• Colour: lime yellow
• Origin: India

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