Vintage Patchwork Modern Overdyed Hand Knotted Area Carpet-Mazzarine Blue 11079 12' x 15'

The over-dyed patchwork is one of the few genuinely modern carpet ideas of the last twenty years. It treats older Anatolian and Persian fragments the way a contemporary painter treats found canvas, cutting and reassembling sections that have already lived a long working life, then submerging the whole field in a single dye bath. The mazzarine blue here is the deep ink-blue used in fifteenth-century Mamluk manuscript bindings and later in Iznik underglaze, drawn from indigo with a long oxidation cycle and finished with iron sulphate.

Working at 12' x 15' (366 x 457 cm) required five weavers on the loom for around seven months. About 4.7 million hand-tied knots on a cotton foundation, with each section sourced from a different vintage carpet and re-knotted along the seams while still under tension. The wool came from highland flocks, sheared, sorted, washed, and then over-dyed in copper vats. Indigo is the slowest dye in the workshop. Each immersion oxidises in air for half an hour before the next dip, and this composition required eleven dips to settle the colour to its final saturation.

The composition

A deep mazzarine blue holds the entire field. Inside the blue, a grid of unequal panels keeps the ghost geometry of older carpets, a Heriz medallion, a Tabriz spandrel, a Yastik diamond. The over-dye softens each original palette into a tonal cousin of the blue, so the rug reads as one composition rather than a collage. Indigo also matures rather than fading, the surface deepens for three to five years before stabilising, then holds for a generation.

What you are buying

Comparable over-dyed patchwork carpets at this scale, with the same panel density and dye discipline, list with European and American dealers between $9,000 and $13,000. This piece is offered at clearance pricing well under that figure. The discount reflects stock turnover, not reduced workmanship. The rug is hand-knotted in vegetable-dyed wool, so it appreciates with use rather than depreciating, a property no other floor object holds.

The piece in a room

12' x 15' (366 x 457 cm) carries a generous living room, an open-plan dining and lounge layout, or a primary bedroom with the bed floated forward of a wall. The mazzarine blue pairs well with warm wood floors, with leather upholstery in cognac or oxblood, and with brass or aged bronze hardware. Bone-white walls hold the saturation as a focal field; deep plaster greys let the blue settle as architecture.

Conservation

Rotate a half turn each spring and autumn so light and foot traffic age the wool evenly. Vacuum weekly on suction only with the beater bar disengaged. Blot spills with a dry cotton cloth, never rub, and lift any moisture with absorbent paper. A wool-trained conservator should hand-wash the piece every five to seven years. With this regimen, it runs eighty to a hundred years.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 366 x 457 cm (12' x 15')
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot, vintage panels over-dyed
• Hands: 5 weavers, ~7 months
• Pile: 8 mm
• Dye: indigo over-dye, iron mordant
• Origin: India

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