Multicolor Anatolian-Pattern Hand-Knotted Wool Rug

Before the fringe at each end there is a short band of flatweave — a kilim panel, worked on the same warps as the pile — and it is uncommon enough to be the first thing to say. Hand-Knotted Multicolor Anatolian-Pattern Wool Rug, 193 × 300 cm (6'4" × 9'10"), all wool, tied with the Gördes knot on a fire-red ground. Red carries the whole field, and blues, greens, oranges and beiges are laid over it in motifs that take their variety from the dye lots as much as from the drawing.

01Where the Medallion comes from

A medallion holds the center in strong contrast against the ground, and the borders are detailed enough to reward standing over them. Because the yarn is dyed in small quantities, the tone of any one color shifts slightly from one part of the rug to another, and that drift is what gives the surface depth from every angle. A Gördes knot is tied symmetrically over a pair of warps — the Turkish knot, as against the Persian one that wraps a single warp — and doubling it, as the weaver has here, brings the back up firm and keeps the drawing in register under decades of feet.

02What the yarn is

The wool is soft enough that the comparison the Turkish reaches for is a sweater, and walking on it is not a figure of speech. The kilim panel at each end is a piece of craft most workshops leave out, because it costs time and nobody demands it. All wool, hand-knotted with the Gördes knot, doubled. 193 × 300 cm (6'4" × 9'10"). A fire-red ground carrying blue, green, white and orange motifs. A central medallion, with detailed borders around it. A flatwoven kilim band at both ends, on the same warps as the pile. Small dye lots make the color drift slightly across the field. Soft to walk on, and dense enough to be walked on for years. A single piece.

03The mark of slow weaving

Have it washed professionally. The kilim ends are the part a weaver adds for their own satisfaction, and they are the part most people notice last.