Ivory and red is the oldest coupling in the Persian rug vocabulary. Madder root yields a red whose tone shifts with the mineral content of the water; undyed wool gives the ivory its faint warmth. Together they have anchored court carpets, tribal kilims, and village rugs for six centuries. This rug carries the convention forward at a domestic scale, holding the saturation of red against an ivory ground broad enough to keep the colour from overwhelming the room.

Two to three weavers shared the loom for approximately five months in India to finish this piece. The foundation is cotton; the pile is hand-spun wool, dyed in batches small enough that the red carries dye-lot variation rather than industrial uniformity. After the cut, the rug was washed in clean water, sun-dried on grass, and finished with a hand shear to even the pile and bring the drawing forward.

The composition

Ivory ground holding around two-thirds of the field, red running through the floral repeat and the principal border, accents of soft indigo and walnut at the corner medallions. The red has an orange shift where the dye took heavily and a brick-rose shift where it took lightly, which gives the colour body. The drawing is curvilinear, lyrical rather than crowded, with negative space honoured between motifs.

What you are buying

An ivory-and-red hand-knotted Indian wool rug at 8' x 10' (244 x 305 cm) bought through a Western dealer typically runs three to five lakh. Bought directly through Rugsville, the same loom-time and material come in below one lakh. The rug appreciates with use rather than depreciating, and the red softens into a coral-rose patina over a decade rather than dulling.

The piece in a room

8' x 10' (244 x 305 cm) anchors a sitting room around a sectional or a pair of facing sofas, leaving a comfortable margin of floor at each edge. The red speaks well to walnut and rosewood furniture, to brass and unlacquered copper, and to white-washed plaster walls; against grey-washed walls it holds its own without becoming strident. The ivory keeps the rug from ever reading as heavy.

Conservation

Rotate every six months to balance the way the red catches direct sun. Vacuum weekly using suction alone, never the beater bar. Treat spills with cold water and a clean cotton cloth, working from the outer edge inward. Schedule a hand wash by a wool-trained conservator every six years to refresh lustre and clear dust deep in the pile.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 244 x 305 cm (8' x 10')
• Construction: asymmetric knot
• Hands: 2-3 weavers, ~5 months
• Pile: hand-spun wool
• Origin: India

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