Yellow Anatolian-Pattern Hand-Knotted Wool Rug, Pinhan Series

The surface is wool all the way through. Underneath it the foundation is mostly cotton, with a trace of synthetic yarn added for strength, and the house states that rather than hiding it. Yellow Anatolian-Pattern Hand-Knotted Wool Rug, Pinhan Series — a mustard-gold ground with Anatolian figures banded across the top and the bottom. Pinhan means hidden.

01Reading the motif

At a distance the rug is simply warm and yellow; approach it and the bands resolve into geometric Anatolian figures in navy, brick and turquoise, drawn small and packed tight. The middle has been left almost bare on purpose so the bands carry all the weight, and the yellow, sitting toward mustard rather than lemon, is what keeps the whole thing from reading as a decorative object. Three sizes are knotted: 79 × 156 cm (2'7" × 5'1") for an entrance, 163 × 243 cm (5'4" × 8'0") for a sitting area, and 244 × 344 cm (8'0" × 11'3") for a large room.

02What Wool does

Wool on the surface accounts for the warmth and the give underfoot; cotton in the foundation accounts for the shape; the small amount of synthetic is there for wear and is declared for the same reason the rest of it is. Have it washed by somebody who cleans rugs for a living. Hand-knotted, with a wool surface throughout. Foundation predominantly cotton, with a trace of synthetic yarn for durability. Mustard-gold ground with patterned bands top and bottom. Geometric Anatolian motifs in navy, brick and turquoise. The center is left plain deliberately, which is what makes the bands work. Three sizes: 79 × 156, 163 × 243 and 244 × 344 cm. Professional washing. It is a rug with a raised voice and an old accent, and plain rooms are where it does the most work.