Red Versace-Pattern Hand-Knotted Wool and Silk Rug

Pure silk lifts the motifs and wool carries everything else: a red Versace-pattern hand-knotted rug in wool and silk over a cotton foundation, its pattern laid out symmetrically across a strong red ground, 250 × 300 cm (8'2" × 9'10").

01Coming off the loom

Woven for Halıcızade and sold nowhere else. Symmetry is what keeps a pattern this emphatic from tipping over. The figures are placed in mirrored pairs across the field, so the eye finds the order before it finds the ornament, and the red beneath them is warm rather than orange.

02What Wool does

Silk changes value as the light moves round, and the drawing brightens along one diagonal while the other quietens. It was built for a room with a fireplace in it and behaves best in one. The rug is tied at a high knot density in a mixture of wool and pure silk over a cotton warp, and that density is what lets a design with this much line in it stay readable at floor level.

03Color, by the light

Around a hearth, with walnut shelving, leather chairs and brass fittings, the red settles down. Under a tall ceiling and a glass fitting it comes forward instead. Off-white, stone or pale mink on the walls will keep it in proportion. Cleaning belongs to a rug washer. Hand-knotted at high density in wool and pure silk, on a cotton foundation. Classical motifs arranged in mirrored pairs across a strong red ground. The silk passages change value as the angle of the light changes. Drawn and produced for Halıcızade; the series is not available from other sellers. 250 × 300 cm (8'2" × 9'10") — a large salon, a formal dining room or a wide entrance. Red at this strength wants a quiet wall behind it, in off-white, stone or pale mink. A rug washer, not a domestic cleaner. Why is silk used in a rug meant to be walked on? Silk holds a finer line than wool can and reflects light from a different angle, so it is used for the motifs while wool carries the ground and takes the wear.

04What the yarn is

The division is practical: the parts of the surface walked on most are made of the tougher fiber. It is a rug that asks the room to be arranged around it, and it is honest enough about that from the doorway.