Burgundy Medallion Qum

100% silk pile, hand-knotted in Qum, with silk fringe at both ends. Silk is strong in tension but delicate in every other respect — it abrades, it marks with water, and it loses lustre permanently if treated like wool.

The burgundy field is forgiving of small marks; the ivory medallion, corners and border are not, and between them they cover a large part of the rug. The royal blue outer band sits against the pale fringe on both ends, which is where colour movement from water would show first. It is best on a wall, a bedside or a table rather than underfoot.

The two strongest colours on this rug never touch. The burgundy of the field is warm and deep; the royal blue of the outer band is cool and bright; and set directly against each other, colours this saturated would vibrate along the line where they meet. The ivory border is what prevents that. Look at how wide it is compared with the rug, and how quiet: pale ground, soft cartouches, the blue used only as a thin grey-blue outline. It works as a mat between a painting and its frame, giving the eye somewhere neutral to rest between the burgundy inside and the blue outside. The same buffering happens at the centre, where the ivory medallion sits in the burgundy with a blue-grey outline, and in the four corners, where the burgundy gives way to soft gold and ivory. Every time the warm red is about to meet something strong, a pale colour gets there first.