Red Floral Oushak Handwoven Wool Rug, Şahzade Series

Oushak, the weaving town in western Anatolia, supplied the drawing; the rug itself was made a long way east of there — a red floral Oushak in handwoven wool from the Şahzade series, 206 × 296 cm (6'9" × 9'9"), the surface wool and the foundation cotton with a trace of synthetic worked in, made in Afghanistan.

01Comes from from Anatolia

One piece. The Oushak repertoire was settled in western Anatolia from the fifteenth century onward and then traveled: these rugs reached Europe in quantity and turn up underfoot in Renaissance portraits, which is why the drawing looks familiar to people who have never bought a rug in their lives. What separates it from Persian classical design is scale.

02Up close to the pattern

The figures are large, the spacing is generous, and the palette leans on madder red and soft yellow rather than on deep indigo. Red across six square meters is a decision about the whole room — it will pull warmth out of oak and it will fight cool gray upholstery. Woven by hand in Afghanistan, where much of the classical Anatolian repertoire has been rewoven for the export trade.

03The Wool on the surface

The house is specific about the yarn and we will repeat it here rather than round it off: wool at the surface, cotton beneath it, a trace of synthetic for strength. That last part is the sort of thing a seller leaves out. Şahzade is the Persian şāhzāde, a prince's title, and the series takes the grander end of the classical drawing. Washing goes out to a specialist and nowhere else. Handwoven in Afghanistan, in the Oushak repertoire of western Anatolia. Wool surface; cotton foundation with a trace of synthetic yarn, as declared by the house. 206 × 296 cm (6'9" × 9'9"), a little over six square meters. Madder-toned red ground in the classical Oushak palette. Şahzade is a princely title in Persian; the series name is not translated. Professional washing. A single piece; there is no restock. It will give up a shade of its brightness in the first few years and then hold there for the rest of its life.