Sage Green and Gold Afshan All-Over Floral, Hand-Knotted Wool Rug

100% wool pile, hand-knotted at a fine gauge, with a natural fringe at both ends. Wool is resilient and forgiving underfoot, and a room-sized rug like this one spreads wear over a large area rather than concentrating it.

The antique wash has already taken the lustre off the surface, so this rug will not develop sheen with use in the way an unwashed wool rug does, and its muted tone is permanent rather than a sign of wear. The pale sage ground will show a spill clearly, so it is happier in a sitting room than under a dining table unless you are confident.

Afshan means scattering, and it names a layout rather than a motif: flowers strewn across the field with no medallion to anchor them and no lattice to contain them. It is worth knowing what this rug is not, because two similar-sounding names get applied loosely. It is not a Ziegler or Chobi — those are defined by large-scale, open florals with generous space between them, and this field is small-scale and densely packed. Nor is it a Kashan, which shares the pastel palette and the dense double-knot weave but is defined by a central medallion this rug does not have. What it does share with a Kashan is the construction. The asymmetrical Senneh knot, known in the trade as the double knot, produces a denser, heavier rug and is what allows curvilinear drawing at all — single-knot weaving tends towards geometry. Look at the stems: they curve smoothly rather than climbing in staircases, and every rosette of a given type matches every other, which together mean a squared cartoon and a workshop rather than a weaver composing at the loom. The muted tone is an antique wash applied after weaving; it is permanent, and will not lift with cleaning.