Cream Oushak-Pattern Handwoven Wool Runner, Mahal Series

The yarn was dyed by hand before any of it reached the loom, and that is why the cream in this handwoven wool runner runs from ivory to warm beige and the red details from coral to rust. Mahal Series Cream Oushak Runner — 84 × 294 cm (2'9" × 9'8"), wool pile on a cotton foundation, knotted in Pakistan with the Anatolian double knot. Classical Oushak work is usually read from its border in, and here the border is the strongest thing on the rug: geometric and floral figures alternating at a steady interval down both long edges, setting a beat the field then loosens.

01The origin of the pattern

Inside it the drawing is sparser, a few upright motifs on open cream. In a corridor with daylight at one end the whole surface warms toward the window and cools away from it, which no photograph of a rug ever shows. Weavers in Pakistan tie the Anatolian double knot — symmetrical, closed over two warps — and it is the reason a rug this narrow keeps its edges straight over nearly three meters.

02From ground to pile

The pile is wool and gives a firm report underfoot. The structure below is cotton, given a little synthetic yarn to hold the length over time — said here because the house prefers to say it. A cream ground on a floor is honest about traffic: it shows what a dark rug hides, and it wants a doormat in front of it. Hand-knotted in Pakistan with the Anatolian double knot, closed over two warps. Wool pile; cotton foundation carrying a trace of synthetic yarn. Cream ground with warm red motifs and a border of alternating geometric and floral figures. 84 × 294 cm (2'9" × 9'8"), drawn for corridors and entrance runs. Hand-dyed yarn: ivory to warm beige in the ground, coral to rust in the reds. A pale ground shows traffic sooner than a dark one — worth planning for. Cleaning is a job for a rug workshop. Put it where the light falls along its length rather than across it, and the border does the rest.