Cream and Rose Pink Vase Border Tabriz, Hand-Knotted Wool Rug

This is a fine, hand-knotted piece that rewards a little extra care. 100% wool pile with a natural fringe at both ends, and an inscribed cartouche in the outer border at one end.

Both the cream field and the rose border are pale, so this rug shows traffic and spills more readily than a dark one. Rose is a weak red and among the less light-fast colours here, so the border will lose tone before the field does. A small rug also concentrates its wear rather than spreading it, so a rug pad and regular rotation matter more than on a room-sized piece.

There are vases in the border. Look along the wide rose band and you will find small urns at regular intervals with flowers springing from their mouths, alternating with large scrolling leaves. The vase is one of the oldest devices in Persian design and it carries a specific idea — flowers cut and arranged rather than growing wild, which is to say a garden brought indoors. On a field rug the vase usually sits at the centre as the subject of the whole composition; putting it in the border instead turns it into a repeating rhythm and leaves the medallion free to do the work at the centre. It is a quieter use of a strong motif. Note that the brighter colours on this rug — the wine, the sky blue, the gold — are all confined to motifs no larger than a thumbnail, while cream and rose carry everything structural. That is why the rug reads calm from a doorway and turns out to be full of colour when you kneel to it.