Indigo Flame (2'10" x 6'4") – Authentic Vintage Moroccan Runner

Two diamonds on a midnight ground, and around each one a ring of saffron points fanning outward like flame. The upper medallion works cobalt into cream, traced through with pink and teal, closing on a small cartouche with a red and yellow motif at its heart. The lower one does the same in hot pink and violet. They sit in the dark like two things catching light.

The border does as much work as the field. An ivory band carries a bold scarlet sawtooth the full way round — big triangular teeth alternating cream and navy, each one outlined in red — and inside it two fine red keylines and a second cream band close everything down onto the medallions. For a rug under three feet wide, it is a remarkable amount of structure.

And then the fringe, which is turquoise. Not cream, not natural, not matched to anything else on the rug. Someone finished this piece with the brightest thing to hand, and it is the detail people notice last and remember longest.

Dark grounds are less common in vintage Moroccan weaving than red or natural, and they behave differently in a room — a navy rug grounds a space and holds its edges, where a pale one lifts and spreads it.

We buy rugs like this because we would rather sell one honest, irregular, human-made piece than a hundred flawless machine copies. It was hand-knotted in Morocco decades ago, it has already lived a life, and there is not another one anywhere.

Details

• Rug Number: IC-2467
• Size: 2'10" x 6'4" (0.86m x 1.93m)
• Construction: Hand-knotted on a traditional loom in Morocco — no machine work at any stage
• Style: Vintage Moroccan runner, Middle Atlas — twin flame-pointed medallions inside a sawtooth border
• Colours: Midnight navy ground with saffron, ivory, scarlet, cobalt, hot pink, violet and teal — turquoise fringe
• Pile: Medium-high
• Fringe: Original turquoise fringe at one end
• Authenticity: A genuine one-of-a-kind vintage piece. Drift in the sawtooth border, variation between the two medallions and gentle wear are inherent to a hand-woven rug of this age — they are the evidence it is real
• Availability: One of one. Once this rug sells, it cannot be reordered or reproduced
• Care: Professionally washed before dispatch and ready to use on arrival

Where it works

At 2'10" x 6'4" this is a classic runner width — and a dark ground behaves very differently underfoot to a pale one.

• Hallway: Allow 4–6 inches of floor either side, so a corridor of roughly 3'10" or wider suits it. Navy is forgiving of the traffic a hallway actually gets
• Kitchen: Runs along a galley or in front of a sink, where a cream rug would show every mark
• Beside a bed: Runs the length of a double or queen on one side
• Entryway: A dark rug at a threshold grounds the space and takes the worst of what comes in from outside
• Pale rooms: Its best use. In a white or plaster hallway this supplies weight and colour in one object
• As wall art: Narrow, symmetrical and strongly framed — it hangs well. See our guide to hanging a rug as wall art

Palette notes: Navy with saffron and pink is a confident, slightly theatrical pairing. It sits with white plaster, pale oak, brass and cane, and against dark joinery it becomes almost jewel-like. Keep the surrounding surfaces plain — the rug has enough going on.

Questions about this piece

This is a single vintage rug, so what you see is what exists — it cannot be remade, resized or reordered. If you would like additional photographs, detail shots of the weave or fringe, or a closer look at condition before you buy, we are happy to send them. Trade enquiries are always welcome.

Write to us at Info@illuminatecollectiverugs.com.

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