Garden carpets are among the oldest figurative compositions in the Persian tradition, drawings of paradise gardens laid out in formal quadrants, with watercourses, planted beds, and cypress trees arranged the way a Mughal architect would lay out a charbagh. The Persian Garden pattern in this rug belongs to that lineage. Beige carries the ground. The plant work runs across the field in close tonal range, drawn so the eye reads orchard rather than ornament.

Three weavers shared the loom for close to six months. Around 2.5 million asymmetric knots were tied by hand against the cotton warp, each row packed into the previous with a metal comb. The pile is yarn-dyed hand-spun wool, the dye taken in the skein before warp setting, then luster washed at finishing to draw the lanolin back into the fibre. The beige is mid-warm undyed wool. The plant work uses dyes that lean plant rather than synthetic, which is why the surface carries small tonal drift across the field rather than reading as flat colour.

The composition

A wide beige field with the garden pattern running edge to edge in close tonal repeats, the border held in the same family of tones rather than as a contrast frame. The drawing is restrained throughout, the line widths kept narrow so the figure reads as suggestion rather than as outline. The colour will continue to settle for the first three years. The beige will warm into honey, the plant work will deepen by a quarter tone, and the rug will reach its true settled colour by the time it is five.

What you are buying

Antique Persian garden carpets at 8' x 10' with comparable condition and clean drawing trade through Sotheby's and Rippon Boswell at three to five times this asking price when they appear at auction in good state. This is a new weaving in the same tradition, hand-knotted on a vertical loom, in hand-spun wool, with mineral and plant-leaning dyes. The rug appreciates with use rather than depreciating. There is no other object on a floor with that property at this number.

The piece in a room

8' x 10' (244 x 305 cm) holds a primary living room arranged around a sofa and two armchairs with the rug under all the seating, or a dining table for six to eight with the chairs clear of the field. The beige garden palette pairs with walnut, oak, brass, leather, and unframed paper or canvas art. It holds against lime-washed walls and against panelled wood. The rug carries the room rather than fighting for it.

Conservation

Rotate a half turn each spring and autumn so light and foot traffic age the rug evenly across the face. Vacuum weekly with the suction only, no beater bar. Blot spills with cotton, never rub. A wool conservator should hand wash the piece every five to seven years to lift embedded soil. The rug runs eighty to a hundred years with this care.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 244 x 305 cm (8' x 10')
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot
• Hands: 3 weavers, ~6 months
• Pile: 10 mm, hand-spun wool
• Dye: yarn-dyed wool, luster washed
• Origin: India

Free UK delivery. 14-day returns. Authentic hand-knotted craftsmanship. Crated for safe transit.