Tunisian Wool Kilim Rug

The diamond at the center does not blink.

This kilim rug comes from Sidi Bou Zid, Tunisia, North Africa, and dates to the early 20th century. It is wool. Tunisian women wove kilims like this at home for their own floors, walls and bedding, and for dowries and sale, drawing on Amazigh and Arab traditions. A concentric, stepped diamond in orange, black and pale blue dominates a saturated red field, with rows of smaller medallions above and below. Long columns of triangles run down each side, and Greek-key borders sit outside them. Long, pale fringe finishes the ends. Over nine and a half feet long.

It is seldom the quietest thing in any room.