10'2" x 14'4" Persian Isfahan Design Rug | Red Field, Navy Border | Wool & Silk, Never Used

This is a full room size piece, 10'2" x 14'4", woven in the Isfahan tradition of central Persia with a wool and silk pile on a cotton foundation. The drawing is the kind that only works at a fine knot count: a light blue starburst medallion floating on a rose red field of scrolling vines, framed by a deep indigo border of rosettes and willow trees. The pile is a short 1/4", which is exactly what this style of curvilinear work needs so the small floral details stay crisp, and the silk in the pile catches the light along the leaves and stems. It has never been on a floor. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity, and this one falls into the classic 10 x 14 Persian rug footprint that suits a large dining table or a full living room seating group. If you want the background on the style, read our complete guide to Isfahan rugs.

Design and Motifs

The center holds an 8 lobed medallion built in two layers: a pale blue core with a many petalled rosette at the middle, wrapped in a navy surround of split palmettes and serrated ivory leaves. Above and below it, a matching pendant reaches into the field, and 4 corners carry ivory spandrels drawn with the same vocabulary in reverse, dark on light instead of light on dark. The field between them is not open ground but a dense lattice of vine scroll, palmettes, cypress like buds and small rosettes, all drawn on the curve rather than the angle. The main border runs a repeating sequence of large pink and ivory rosettes alternating with weeping willow trees, a motif you see clearly in the corner photograph, and it is flanked by ivory guard stripes of turning vine and minor floral heads. The overall effect is formal and highly organized, with every element mirrored across both axes.

Color: Rose Red Field, Indigo Border, Ivory Spandrels

The field is a soft rose red, warmer and lighter than the hard brick red of village weaving, and it reads slightly dusty in the overhead photo where the light hits it flat. Against that sits a deep indigo navy in the main border and in the medallion surround, dark enough that from a distance the border reads almost black. The third color is ivory, used for the corner spandrels, both guard stripes and most of the leaf outlining, and it is what keeps the rug from feeling heavy. Inside those three there is a whole secondary palette: powder and sky blue in the medallion core and the small field rosettes, soft rose pink in the border flowers, olive and sage green in the willow fronds and leaf tips, camel and pale gold in the buds, and small notes of deep wine and charcoal in the flower centers. Silk in the pile lifts the lighter tones, so the blues and ivories shift as you walk around the rug.

Origin and Weaving Quality

Isfahan sits in central Persia and has been a weaving center since the Safavid court workshops of the 16th century. Its reputation rests on drawing: the curved line, the flowing vine, the precision of a repeated motif across a 14 foot length, none of which is possible without a tight, even knot. The back label on this piece names Meymeh, one of the smaller weaving towns of the Isfahan region that works to the same cartoons and the same standards as the city itself, and the reverse shows a fine, regular knot with the pattern reading clearly through to the back. The wool is well spun and lustrous, the selvedges are tight, and the white cotton fringe is original and untrimmed. At 10'2" x 14'4" this is a large piece to weave at this level of detail, which is why room size Isfahan design rugs with a silk highlighted pile stay in demand with collectors and decorators alike.