10'2" x 13'5" Persian Tabriz Rug | Wool | Ivory and Coral Red

A room-size carpet, 10'2" x 13'5", knotted by hand in Persia to a Tabriz drawing. The pile is wool at 3/8", and the field is ivory, filled corner to corner with a fine floral scroll and closed in by a wide coral red border. At a distance the field reads almost plain and the border does the work; up close the ivory ground is barely visible between the stems.

The design

There is no medallion. The field carries an allover pattern of thin vines that branch and cross the whole ground, hung with palmettes, rosettes, lotus heads and small serrated leaves, the drawing mirrored along the long axis so the two halves answer each other. The main border runs a vine of large palmettes and rosettes with cupped blossoms between them, and the corners are properly resolved rather than cut off mid-motif. Narrow guard stripes on either side of it carry a small meandering flowerhead, with a further fine stripe at the outer edge. The ends finish in plain ivory fringe.

The colour

The field is an ivory that leans a little to cream and picks up a faint yellow cast in strong light. Against it the border is a coral red, closer to rust where the pile lies away from the camera, which is the main weight of colour on the rug. The guard stripes are a soft sage green, and that green is repeated in leaves scattered through the field. Outlines and the darkest flower centres are worked in navy blue, with lighter blue, rose and a dull gold filling the smaller blossoms.

The making

The rug is hand-knotted, one of the larger hand-knotted rugs in this size band, with a wool pile clipped to 3/8" so the small floral detail stays legible. It is a rectangular format, woven in Persia, and the condition is given as excellent: full pile across the field, sound selvedges and fringe at both ends.