How to exclude directory from wp mod rewrite

Please help with this situation -

I tried various ways, wasted like an hour can't figure it out -
Tried this -

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/directory/.*$
RewriteRule ^.*$ - [L]

The htaccess looks like this -

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/directory/.*$
RewriteRule ^.*$ - [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

Code (markup):

Still getting 404 error while calling for domain.com/directory/

 

Try this...

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/(foldername|foldername/.*)$