Gray and Green Oushak Handwoven Silk-Blend Rug, Jaipur Series

Woven for Jaipur Rugs in India: a hand-knotted Oushak-pattern rug, 170 × 244 cm (5'7" × 8'0"), with a gray ground, a scrolling vine in green, yellow and burgundy, and an olive border. Wool pile, cotton foundation, and silk reserved for the motifs. A single piece. The vine does not repeat on a grid.

01A line from the archive

It runs corner to corner in thin curving lines, thickening where a flower head sits and thinning again, and the olive of the border is a full tone deeper than any green in the field, so the frame holds without competing.

02How it feels underfoot

Silk sits at a slightly different height than the wool around it — the surface is faintly carved — and that is why the pattern lights up from one side of the room and goes quiet from the other. The foundation is cotton and the field is wool; only the motifs are silk, which is the usual division in this class of Indian weaving and the reason the shine stays confined to the drawing.

03From the hand of the weaver

The knot count is 14 by 14, and that is what lets a vine this thin stay a vine rather than becoming a stepped line. Gray of this kind is cool in a north-facing room and turns almost fawn under a warm bulb, so it is worth looking at it under the lamps it will actually stand beneath.

04The Wool on the surface

It goes out for washing; nothing done at home will do it properly. Hand-knotted in India for Jaipur Rugs. Wool pile on a cotton foundation; silk used only in the motifs. Knotted at 14 by 14 — dense enough to hold a thin scrolling vine. Gray field, green, yellow and burgundy vine, olive border. The silk sits slightly proud of the wool, giving the pattern a low relief. 170 × 244 cm (5'7" × 8'0") — a living room or a well-lit office. Professional washing. One piece; the size is its own, not a standard cut. Under a lamp at night it is a gray rug with a green edge; in morning light it is a garden.