Purple Medallion Hand-Knotted Pure Silk Rug

A hundred knots to the square centimetre, which is a million to the square metre, every one of them tied by hand. This is a hand-knotted pure silk rug with a purple Oushak medallion at its center — warp, weft and pile all silk — woven in China over more than a year.

01The origin of the pattern

Only a few pieces in this palette exist in Türkiye. The medallion is the Oushak kind: one large centerpiece with the border repeating its logic in miniature the whole way round. Purple runs from a saturated tone at the middle out into pale lilac, the contrast pitched high enough that the drawing reads from across a room.

02From ground to pile

Purple was the palace color for most of recorded history because the dye was scarce, and a purple silk rug still carries the association whether or not anyone thinks about it. Under a lamp the silk changes value as you move; from the far side of the room the same field looks two shades lighter. Silk from the Chinese mills and nothing else in it — the warps and the wefts are silk as well as the pile, which is what allows a knot count this high.

03Coming off the loom

At a hundred knots per square centimetre the fabric ends up about as thin and as light as a handkerchief; it gathers into two hands. More than a year went into it. Silk is the least forgiving fiber in a rug: keep it out of direct sun, lift anything spilled immediately rather than letting it sit, and let a specialist do the washing. It is also one of the pieces the people in the shop stop at most often, which has as much to do with the depth of the purple as with the shine. Hand-knotted in China, where silk weaving has been continuous for centuries. Pure silk: warp, weft and pile. About 100 knots per square centimetre — roughly a million to the square metre. Purple through pale lilac, on an Oushak medallion composition. Thin and light in the hand, close to the weight of a handkerchief. More than a year at the loom. Only a handful of examples in this color range exist in Türkiye. Specialist washing, and away from direct sun. What does a hundred knots per square centimetre actually mean? It means roughly a million hand-tied knots in every square metre of the rug.

04From the hand of the weaver

That density is rare, and it is what lets a silk pile hold fine drawing — the smaller the knot, the smaller the detail a weaver can place without it blurring. Is this rug pure silk, or silk-faced? Pure silk throughout.

05The Silk on the surface

The warps and wefts of the foundation are silk as well as the pile, which is unusual; most silk rugs are knotted on a cotton foundation and only the surface is silk. How should a pure silk rug be cleaned? By a specialist, and not otherwise.

06To make it last

Lift spills at once, keep the rug out of direct sunlight so the dyes hold, and take care around pets, since claws can pull at a pile this fine. Rugs like this one end up on walls as often as on floors, and there is a reasonable argument for it.