Burgundy Tekke Bukhara Hand-Knotted Wool Rug

The Tekke are one of the Turkmen tribal groups, and their repeating field motif is what the rug trade has long sold under the name Bukhara. Burgundy Tekke Bukhara Hand-Knotted Wool Rug, 133 × 187 cm (4'4" × 6'2"), hand-knotted in Afghanistan in wool, with cream and yellow drawing on a burgundy ground. Single piece. What holds it together is the discipline of the repeat. The same motif occupies the field at the same interval from edge to edge, and because nothing is emphasized the eye reads rhythm rather than picture.

01Color, by the light

Yellow is the unexpected note — most burgundy Turkmen weaving stays with cream and black — and it warms the ground by a shade. Beside classical furniture the rug looks its age; against modern gray it looks graphic. Wool throughout, spun on the spindle in the manner that predates mill yarn, and knotted fine and tight enough that the reverse reads nearly as clearly as the face.

02Knot by knot, by hand

It stands out as one of the rarer things in the house's collection, for the plain reason that fewer weavers work this way each year. A rug at this knot count is bought as much for looking at as for walking on, and it will not thank you for a hallway. Only a professional washer should take it. Hand-knotted in Afghanistan in the Tekke Turkmen tradition. Wool pile, from yarn hand-spun rather than mill-spun. A single motif repeated at even intervals across a burgundy field. Cream and yellow in the drawing, warmer than the usual cream and black. Knotted finely enough to read from the reverse. 133 × 187 cm (4'4" × 6'2") — a study, a bedside or a small sitting area. Professional washing only. Rugs of this kind used to line the walls of a tent, and they still look better where they will be seen from a chair than where they will be crossed at speed.