Red Medallion Hand-Knotted Silk and Viscose Rug

One large medallion in cream and pale green, sitting on a red field with fine floral work running round it: a red medallion rug hand-knotted in China from silk and viscose yarns, 91 × 152 cm (3'0" × 5'0"), tied over hundreds of thousands of knots.

01A line from the archive

There is one of it. Everything in the drawing answers the medallion. The cream and green inside it lift clear of the red without upsetting the balance, the border repeats the same floral vocabulary at a smaller scale, and the spacing is even enough that the eye reads structure before it reads ornament.

02After the color

Red grounds usually shout. This one does not, because the cream frame takes weight off the color and the pile is fine enough that the red stays flat rather than glowing. Silk and viscose are both filament fibers, so the pile is thin, soft and reflective, and the surface moves between bright and matt depending on which side of the room you are standing on.

03From the hand of the weaver

All of the knotting was done by hand, and the count runs to several hundred thousand for a rug this small. It offers the look of a pure silk piece without the price of one. A fine pile does take marks, so it belongs in an entrance or a bedroom rather than under a dining table. Knotted entirely by hand in China, in silk and viscose yarns. A single large medallion in cream and pale green over a red field. The border repeats the medallion's floral vocabulary at a smaller scale. Hundreds of thousands of knots go into a rug of this size. 91 × 152 cm (3'0" × 5'0") — an entrance, a bedside, or the foot of a bed. The pile is thin and reflective and will show pressure marks from furniture. Suited to professional washing; sweep or vacuum between times. It has the manner of a much more expensive rug and the honesty to be made of what it is made of.