A 1920s Design

Animal patterns were a signature of the Art Deco interior. The zebra in particular appeared on the floors of the period's most ambitious rooms, where the exotic reference met the decade's appetite for bold graphic geometry.

Several auction houses — among them Sotheby's London and Lyon & Turnbull in Glasgow — have attributed the 1920s designs of this type to the English architect Oliver Hill (1887–1968), who is said to have had such rugs produced in Tientsin in northern China for Nichols of London. We should be clear about the status of that attribution: we have not been able to find documentary proof of it. It is the account the trade and the salerooms have settled on, not an established fact.

Composition

The field is filled with fanned bundles of tapering stripes that meet along soft vertical seams, each pair forming a feather-like shape. The bundles are staggered so that the eye keeps moving and no single point dominates. There is no border — the pattern runs to all four edges, and the corners are lightly rounded.

The contrast is the point of this version: anthracite black on a grey-white ivory ground, drawn sharply rather than softened. Because the pile is bamboo silk, the ivory shifts with the light — luminous and almost white where the light falls directly, cooler and greyer at an angle — while the black stays matte and holds the drawing steady.

Material and Knotting

The pile is bamboo silk — the established trade name for a lustrous fibre produced from bamboo cellulose by the viscose process. In fibre terms it is viscose, a regenerated cellulose, and it is declared as such in the specifications below. What it brings is the sheen: a pronounced, silk-like reflection that gives a two-colour rug the depth it would otherwise lack.

The rug is hand-knotted in India in the Persian knot at approximately 100 knots per square inch. A square inch measures 2.54 × 2.54 cm; at 100 knots per inch² that corresponds to roughly 157,000 knots per square metre — the conversion factor from inch² to m² is 1,550. The pile stands at approximately 9 mm on a cotton foundation.

Presence in the Room

At 210 × 120 cm (2.5 m²) this is an accent format with a strong graphic presence:

• In front of a sofa: Between seating and coffee table, where the pattern is seen from above and reads at full strength.
• Entrance or hallway: The elongated proportion suits a corridor or the first stretch inside a door.
• On a wall: The drawing carries at a distance, and at this size and weight the rug hangs without difficulty.

Specifications

Frequently Asked Questions

Responsible Sourcing · Label STEP

Djoharian is a Label STEP certified dealer for fair-trade knotted rugs — fair wages for the weavers, no child labour, and ecologically responsible production. Visit the Label STEP entry for Djoharian Teppiche →

Djoharian — Since 1967

Founded in 1967, with roots in the Grand Carpet Bazaar of Tehran and more than five decades of experience in the international rug trade. Each piece is carefully selected, inspected and presented with the documentation a discerning buyer expects.

Service and Delivery

Every piece is expertly inspected in our atelier in Lohr am Main before dispatch. For expert washing and repair we offer our own professional rug cleaning service. Secure and fast worldwide shipping, fully insured, with personal consultation in our showroom or by video call.