The composition is built around a contemporary field. Everything else in the weaving works in service of it, the borders narrowed, the corners simplified, the palette held in tight register. The discipline of that subtraction is what turns a serviceable rug into a considered piece of work.

On a vertical loom in India, 1 weaver worked the cartoon for about 2 months. The pile is hand-spun New Zealand wool. Foundation in cotton. Knot count comes to roughly 259,200, each one tied by feel. After the rug came off the loom it was washed in soft water and stretched flat to align the rows, a finishing process that takes another two weeks on its own.

The composition

The palette is held in blue, with the contemporary motifs picked out in tones that sit a half-step away from the ground rather than fighting against it. The colour interaction is the work of plant dye, not pigment, which is why no two viewings under different light read the same. Morning sun pulls one set of values forward; evening lamp light brings out the cooler register that sits underneath.

What you are buying

Auction rooms in London and New York place hand-knotted pieces of this lineage and density well above the figure here. The economics work because the loom sits in India, where the craft has been transmitted continuously for centuries, rather than in a Western workshop with imported labour.

The piece in a room

2'6" x 6' (76 x 183 cm). Lighter walls push the blue forward as a focal field; darker walls let it settle into the architecture. The blue field sits comfortably with leather, linen, brass, and the warm woods, less comfortably with strongly patterned upholstery.

Conservation

Care is preservation, not maintenance. Rotate the rug twice yearly. Vacuum weekly with the beater bar off. Address spills with a clean cotton cloth and water, never solvents. A conservator's wash every five years restores the lustre. The weaving will run for generations.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 76 x 183 cm (2'6" x 6')
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot
• Total knot count: ~259,200
• Hands: 1 weaver, 2 months
• Pile: hand-spun wool
• Origin: India

Free UK delivery. 14-day returns. Authentic hand-knotted craftsmanship.