Gray Oushak Hand-Knotted Wool and Silk Round Rug, Jaipur Series

Real silk goes into the drawing and nowhere else, and the ground beneath it is wool: a gray Oushak-pattern round rug from the Jaipur series, a circle of 183 × 183 cm (6'0" × 6'0"), knotted in India over a cotton foundation, with beige and cream motifs spread across a gray field. Only one was made at this size.

Gray is the steady part and everything else moves against it. The motifs are worked small, each one finished rather than suggested, and they are distributed evenly across the circle instead of being gathered into a single center. The silk stands a hair proud of the wool around it, so the pattern catches a lamp from one side of a room and goes quiet from the other. For a rug carrying this much ornament the overall effect is unusually calm.

The knotting is Jaipur Rugs' work and runs to months on a single circle, tied at 14 by 14 on a cotton warp with wool making the field. Confining the silk to the motifs is a practical decision as much as a visual one: silk marks faster than wool does, and keeping it inside the drawing puts the wear on the tougher fiber. Regular vacuuming holds the pile up. Anything wetter than that should leave the house.

• Knotted by hand in India by Jaipur Rugs, at 14 by 14.
• Wool field over a cotton foundation, with genuine silk in the motifs.
• Gray ground, with the drawing carried in beige and cream.
• 183 × 183 cm (6'0" × 6'0") — a true circle, for a hall or under a round table.
• The silk sits slightly above the wool, so the pattern lights up from one direction.
• Vacuum at home; send it out for anything more.
• A single piece at these dimensions.

Six feet of circle is a decision rather than a floor covering, and this one is quiet enough to live with.