Ivory Mamluk Design Area Rug, 03'11 X 05'11

Details

Description

A hand-knotted area rug in the Mamluk design, woven on a soft ivory ground with madder red, sage green, gold … Read more A hand-knotted area rug in the Mamluk design, woven on a soft ivory ground with madder red, sage green, gold and indigo. Hand-spun wool, knotted by hand.

The Mamluk carpets of Cairo are built entirely from geometry, and this rug follows them closely. A column of large eight-petalled rosettes runs down the centre of the field, each drawn as a wheel of radiating petals in red, green, gold and blue. Lattice-filled octagons stand to either side, long serrated leaves in sage sweep diagonally in from the corners, and the ground between is filled with eight-pointed stars, small papyrus umbrellas and tiny cypresses. The corner spandrels are worked as diagonal stripes in red, green, gold and indigo, which is unusual and gives the rug its energy.

Look closely and the weaver appears: two small human figures stand in the field, and the green border is a procession of little houses, tents and animals walking end to end. Hand-knotted with a full even pile, no wear, no repairs, no odour. Selvedges are intact and both ends finish in the original fringe with coloured tassels. At 47 by 71 inches it works as a 4 by 6 — a bedroom, a study, an entry, or a seating area in a larger room — and the ivory ground makes a busy design easy to place in traditional, transitional and eclectic interiors. See less