Burgundy Afghan-Pattern Hand-Knotted Wool Rug, Khamyap

Khamyap is the reachable way into an Afghan Turkmen rug, and the house says so instead of dressing it up: medium knot density, wool over cotton, tied entirely by hand in Afghanistan. Burgundy Afghan-Pattern Hand-Knotted Wool Rug, Khamyap, 206 × 303 cm (6'9" × 9'11"), a burgundy field with traditional Turkmen drawing. One piece.

Medium density does not mean thin. The rug is solid enough to take the traffic of a main room for years, and at three meters it gathers a three-seat sofa, a two-seat and an armchair into one arrangement instead of leaving them adrift. Bukhara and Herat motifs are what the field carries — the drawings Afghan weaving has kept unaltered for centuries. Burgundy agrees with light oak and walnut, and in a room upholstered in cream or off-white it becomes the focus. Under a dark wood dining table, or in a study with a high ceiling, the Afghan character comes out more sharply still.

Wool covers the whole of the surface. The spine is chiefly cotton, and a little recycled synthetic yarn goes in with it for durability, which the house declares rather than conceals — so the fiber underfoot is wool, and the structure beneath it is stronger than cotton alone would make it. The weavers hold the pattern in memory, so motifs vary a little from rug to rug and from row to row. Beside plain modern furniture it supplies all the age in the room by itself. Professional washing.

• Tied by hand in Afghanistan by Turkmen weavers.
• Wool surface; the spine is chiefly cotton, lightly reinforced with recycled synthetic yarn.
• Bukhara and Herat motifs on a burgundy ground.
• 206 × 303 cm (6'9" × 9'11") — a full seating group, or a dining floor.
• Medium knot density, which is what makes it the accessible Afghan hand-knot.
• Solid enough for years of traffic in a main room.
• Motifs carried in memory, so each rug differs slightly.
• Professional washing.

It is the piece that gives a bare modern room a history it did not earn.