Blue Oushak-Pattern Hand-Knotted Carved Rug, Safir Series

Blue Oushak-Pattern Hand-Knotted Carved Rug, Safir Series: blue and mink held against each other across a densely knotted field, with the motifs carved down at their edges so the drawing stands above the ground. Made in India, running from 90 × 150 cm up to 135 × 200 cm — 2'11" × 4'11" to 4'5" × 6'7".

Mink is the color doing the quiet work. Blue on its own would be flat; blue against a warm gray-brown gains depth, and where the two meet the carving cuts a shadow line that neither color could produce alone. The Oushak motifs are the classical ones of western Anatolia, redrawn to a contemporary weight — narrower, less crowded, with more ground left visible than a nineteenth-century original would allow. At these sizes it is a bedside or entrance rug rather than a room-sized one, which is the scale at which the carved detail actually gets looked at.

The knot structure is dense and the density is the point: it is what carries the depth of the detail and what lets the shears cut cleanly. Wool, cotton, bamboo viscose and viscose are used together — the wool for body, the two cellulose yarns for the lasting shine in the motifs. Hand knotting means each piece varies slightly from the next, and on a rug this small the variation is visible. Professional washing, and never a stiff brush across the carved edges.

• Hand-knotted in India in wool, cotton, bamboo viscose and viscose.
• Blue and mink, with the motifs carved in relief after weaving.
• Classical Oushak drawing at a contemporary weight.
• A dense knot structure that holds the detail and takes the carving.
• Woven between 90 × 150 cm and 135 × 200 cm, or 2'11" × 4'11" to 4'5" × 6'7".
• Each piece differs slightly from the last, as hand knotting requires.
• Professional washing; no stiff brushes.

Small rugs are usually bought to fill a gap; this one is worth putting where somebody will stand still and look down.