CU-1336 - Antique Persian Sultanabad Rug

The vast majority of Sultanabad carpets feature allover patterns on madder red grounds more or less of floral origin, and spaciously drawn with time-mellowed tones. Sultanabad's are the ultimate living room carpets, but are equally versatile in almost any room. Their mellow palettes make them welcoming and ultra-comfortable. Here a five-column pattern of round and laterally extended rosettes shows a distant connection to the popular Mina Khani rosette trellis pattern. The linked motives are detailed in light blue, cream, and salmon-buff on the warm madder red ground. The handsome pattern is not quite balanced, slightly sliding under the borders, and this gives it a mobility which, when in lesser hands, could have been all too rigid. This sort of subtle mobility cannot easily be duplicated in a factory carpet created from a rigorously preplanned design. Sultanabad The luminous cerulean indigo blue border is in the strip style, with the end borders running straight across, and the independent side strips filling in. Various rosettes and leaves create the pattern. As is characteristic of Sultanabad's, the plain outermost border repeats the field tone. This synchronicity is lost on the Mahals of the next generation. The weave is moderately coarse with a cotton foundation. The pile wool is softly resilient, and the knots are not strongly packed down. Sultanabad's are always in style and although many were woven, finding one in good condition is always a challenge. Sultanabad's usually run from 10 or 12 by 14 or 15, to 18 by 24 feet mansion carpets. There are few true Sultanabad runners or scatters. Nine by twelves are particularly uncommon. This carpet is wonderfully decoratively versatile and works well with furnishings of almost any period and style. Sultanabad's are casual yet formal without being sloppy or stuffy, with open patterns with a genuine artistic flair.