U-1477 - Oversize Antique Turkish Oushak Rug

What could be more luxurious than a gigantic silver carpet? Oushak carpets were woven in any size and this oversize example has a unique silver-gray overall tonality with just the barest hint of a pattern. The pile wool has a particularly glowing patina without being of the shiny Angora type. The wool is excellent, high quality Turkish wool, clipped in the Spring and carefully selected. The workshop must have had early access to the best wool from the tribal suppliers. It was machine-carded to ensure an even, fine grade. Machine carding superseded hand carding in Turkey, Persia and India by 1900 and it gives a much superior product, uniform and perfect for the finest carpet work. The fibers are smoothly aligned and ready for handspinning. All the best oriental rugs, as here, use hand spun wool which is preferable to machine spun which gives a flat, overly regular texture. To fully appreciate this carpet, it must be seen in a room setting, with furniture. Far better than any broadloom carpeting could be, it integrates a room into an organic decorative whole. It accomplishes this without any overt design elements visually pulling or pushing things about. The enormous scale of this semi-monochrome carpet indicates that it was a very special order for a very large room. The accompanying illustration of the carpet in a semi-traditional room setting shows just how effective is its organizational character. The carpet completes the room, giving it a wholeness and completeness it would otherwise lack. However, the almost severe minimality of this piece also renders it highly effective in the most contemporary context imaginable. In a large, light-filled loft, consider how strongly it would tie together the most ultra-modern furnishings. Besides the visual character of this amazing carpet, there is also a sensual, tactile character that makes you want to walk on it, with or, even better, without shoes.