The Mahal village weavers worked an all-over floral idiom in the Sultanabad orbit. Their carpets reach a Western drawing room as readily today as they did in 1900. The drawing here keeps to that reasoned, village-workshop scale and avoids the over-resolution of the city ateliers.

The piece was hand-tufted in India by a team of 2 tufters and one finisher over 5 weeks. Long-staple wool was pushed through a stretched cotton canvas one row at a time with a tufting tool, then sealed at the back with natural latex and a cotton scrim that lets the rug lie flat without slipping. The last pass was carving by hand with long shears to relieve the pattern above the field by one or two millimetres. That carving is the difference between a tufted rug that reads as a piece of design and one that reads as a flat surface with paint on it. The piece reads at 5' x 8' (152 x 244 cm) in navy and rust, finished in India.

The composition

A field of navy and rust holds the composition. The drawing is set down with a discipline that lets the pattern read at distance and resolve on approach. The colour is held just below shouting volume so the rug carries a room without claiming ownership of it. The slight irregularity in the dye batches gives the field a depth that printed cloth cannot replicate, and that depth is the reason hand-finished wool keeps its place in considered interiors.

The piece in a room

5' x 8' (152 x 244 cm) sits under a two-seat sofa and a narrow coffee table, or anchors a writing desk in a study. The navy register holds against pale walls and against warm wood floors with equal authority. Position the sofa with the front legs on the rug and the back legs on the floor. The composition holds at a low viewing angle from a seated position, which is the angle most of the day will be spent looking at it.

Care

Vacuum on suction only for the first month, then with the beater bar off thereafter. Light shedding settles in four to six weeks. Spot-clean spills with cold water and mild detergent, blotting outward from the centre. Professional dry-cleaning every two to three years keeps the pile bright.

Reference

• Medium: hand-tufted long-staple wool, latex bonded, cotton scrim
• Dimensions: 152 x 244 cm (5' x 8')
• Pile: 12 mm
• Hands: 2 tufters and 1 finisher, ~5 weeks
• Origin: India

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