Navy Medallion Hand-Knotted Silk-Blend Rug

A single large medallion holds the middle, drawn in cream and gold, with floral work filling everything around it. Navy Medallion Hand-Knotted Silk-Blend Rug, 129 × 181 cm (4'3" × 5'11"), knotted by hand in China in cotton, viscose and silk, with red and beige running through the border.

01Color that shifts through the day

There is one of it. Navy is the ground and it refuses to stay still. Against a window the blue opens and the gold in the medallion catches; away from the light it closes to something near black and the cream drawing is all that survives.

02How it feels underfoot

That shift is what the silk in the pile is for. The border keeps the whole from being severe — red and beige, warmer than anything in the field, which is the classical way of framing a dark medallion. Hundreds of thousands of knots were tied by hand for a piece this size, in cotton, viscose and silk rather than in silk alone.

03What it sits well with

The result is thin in the hand, closer to a textile than to a floor covering, which suits an entrance, a bedside, or the floor immediately in front of a desk, and does not suit a room where furniture gets dragged about. A thin rug on a hard floor will travel without an underlay under it.

04Color, by the light

The washing needs a workshop that takes silk. Knotted by hand in China, in a cotton, viscose and silk mixture. A cream-and-gold central medallion inside a floral field. Red and beige in the border, warming a navy ground. The navy opens toward the light and closes away from it. 129 × 181 cm (4'3" × 5'11") — for an entrance, a study or a bedside. Thin and light; needs an underlay on a hard floor. Cleaning belongs to a workshop that takes silk pile. Medallion rugs were designed for rooms where people sat on the floor, and they still reward being looked at from low down.