Cream Floral Hand-Knotted Wool and Silk Rug, Ottoman Series

The wool is first-shearing Erzurum fleece and the silk is pure cocoon silk: an Ottoman Series rug hand-knotted in Türkiye, 163 × 255 cm (5'4" × 8'4"), cream and beige with gold through the flowers, tied on the double Turkish knot by weavers in Diyarbakır and Erzurum.

01The feel of the surface

One piece. First shearing is the earliest clip, oilier and brighter than what follows, and it is where both the softness and the way this surface returns light rather than absorbing it come from.

02Reading the motif

The flower drawing is taken from Oushak sources and redrawn, so it reads classical without reading antique. Cream, beige and gold together look warm on a pale floor and read as a bright rectangle on dark stone or stained board. The double knot — the Gördes or Turkish knot, tied around two warps instead of one — is what makes the pile stand upright rather than lie over, and it is why a rug built this way can be walked on for a generation without going bald in the traffic lanes.

03What Wool does

Silk is used in the pattern only, where it holds a finer line than wool can. Cream and gold on a pale ground shows dust sooner than a dark rug would; that is the cost of the color, and it is worth knowing in advance.

04Color, by the light

Washing belongs in a workshop and not in a bucket at home. Hand-knotted in Diyarbakır and Erzurum, Türkiye. First-shearing Erzurum fleece in the pile; pure cocoon silk in the pattern. Tied on the double Turkish knot, around two warps, so the pile stands up. Cream and beige ground with gold through the Oushak-derived flowers. 163 × 255 cm (5'4" × 8'4") — a long living room or a wide entrance. Warm on a pale floor, bright against dark stone or stained board. A pale ground; dust shows sooner than it would on a dark rug. Professional washing only.

05What the yarn is

One piece. Silk holds its shine long after the wool around it has gone soft, so the flowers will still be the brightest part of this rug when it is old.