Vintage Patchwork Modern Overdyed Hand Knotted Area Carpet-Ultramarine 11084 5' x 8'

Ultramarine was, until 1826, the most expensive pigment in the European painter's box. It was ground from lapis lazuli and reserved for the Virgin's robe in early Renaissance altarpieces because patrons could not bear to commission anything less. The carpet over-dye family does not use lapis, but it borrows the visual idea, applying a calibrated indigo over salvaged antique pile to land at the cool, slightly violet register the painters spent fortunes to achieve.

Three weavers carried this rug across roughly four months on a vertical loom in India. Antique wool pile fragments were sorted by tone, hand-cut, and re-knotted across a cotton warp into a continuous body, then submerged in a cold indigo bath in two passes. The wool is hand-spun, which means each block accepts the dye at a marginally different rate, giving the saturation a vibration that flat industrial dye cannot reproduce. A finisher hand-sheared the surface to level the original pile-height differences between fragments.

The composition

A unified ultramarine ground, deepening into near-cobalt at the seams and lifting toward periwinkle where the older pile took less dye. Beneath the over-dye, faded vine and medallion fragments register as low-contrast traces. The carpet reads almost violet under tungsten light, settles into pure cool blue under daylight, and pushes toward grey-blue under cool LED. That spectral mobility is the visible signature of a deep indigo bath.

What you are buying

Comparable hand-knotted ultramarine over-dyed pieces of this scale move through European specialist dealers at $4,000 to $7,500 in clean condition. The rug here is the same construction, in real wool over cotton, finished by hand shear. Indigo is the most stable dye in the family and the easiest to conserve. The rug appreciates with use rather than depreciating, and the colour develops a softer marine register over time rather than fading flat.

The piece in a room

5' x 8' (152 x 244 cm) sits naturally in a primary bedroom, a small study, or under a four-seater dining table in a flat. The ultramarine palette pairs with white plaster walls, brass and bronze fittings, oak and walnut surfaces, and unbleached cotton upholstery. It works alongside black-and-white photography, watercolour seascapes, and any restrained linen. It expects to hold the cool register of the room on its own.

Conservation

Weekly suction vacuuming, no rotating brush. Rotate the carpet end to end every six months. Blot spills with cold water on cotton cloth and avoid alkaline detergents which lift indigo. A wool-trained hand wash every five years preserves the depth of the saturation. Forty plus years of household use is reasonable with this routine, and the carpet remains conservable beyond.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 152 x 244 cm (5' x 8')
• Construction: asymmetric knot, patchwork over-dye
• Hands: 3 weavers, around 4 months
• Pile: 9 mm hand-spun wool
• Finish: ultramarine indigo over-dye
• Origin: India

Free shipping nationwide in India. Cash on delivery accepted. 7-day exchange from the delivery date.