10'2" x 15'11" Persian Najafabad Isfahan Rug | Light Green Floral Medallion | Semi-Antique Oversize

This is a semi-antique Persian Najafabad, woven in the drawing tradition of Isfahan rugs on a cotton foundation with a dense 3/8" wool pile. At 10'2" x 15'11" it belongs with the true oversize Persian rugs, big enough to hold a full seating group or a 12 seat dining table with the chairs pulled back. The wool has aged into a low, silky sheen, the sides and ends are original and sound, and the piece ships with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The layout is the classic central Persian formula, drawn with the curved line that separates workshop weaving from village work. A layered medallion sits dead center, built from an 8 petal navy rosette inside a ring of pale blue palmettes and ivory arabesque leaves, finished with slender pendants north and south. Around it the field fills with an all-over vine scroll: paired cloud bands, serrated saz leaves, lotus palmettes and small rosettes that reverse perfectly across both axes, so the pattern reads the same from either end of the room. The 4 corner spandrels repeat the medallion's vocabulary at a smaller scale in a dusty mauve ground. The main border carries an alternating palmette and flower head meander, flanked by ivory guard stripes of reciprocal bud motifs and an outer arrowhead minor border, a detail visible in the corner close-up.

A Rare Light Green Field With Blue and Ivory

Light green grounds are uncommon in Persian weaving and this one is the reason to own the rug. The field is a soft celadon, closer to pistachio than to emerald, and the aged wool gives it a chalky, sun-warmed quality rather than anything bright. Against it the drawing runs through a full range of blues: deep navy outlines, a mid cornflower blue in the medallion rosette, and a powdery sky blue in the spandrels and the inner guard stripe. Ivory and cream carry the border ground and the leaf highlights, while warm brown, cinnamon and touches of olive and dusty rose keep the palette from going cold. The border repeats the same light green, so the rug reads as one continuous field of color rather than a hard frame. Buyers hunting green Persian rugs in a room size this large rarely find one in this condition.

Najafabad and the Isfahan Weaving Tradition

Najafabad lies just west of Isfahan in central Persia and has long woven to Isfahan cartoons, taking the same Safavid court vocabulary of curved vine, palmette and layered medallion and putting it into larger, more usable room sizes. The weave is a touch heavier than a fine city Isfahan, with a cotton foundation and a full 3/8" wool pile, and that is exactly what makes a rug of this scale practical: it lies flat, it takes traffic, and the dense pile protects the drawing over decades. The back photograph shows an even, disciplined knot line with no pulls or corrections, and the ends and selvedges are original. Rugs like this were woven as floor pieces for large formal rooms and this one has survived its first life with the pile intact.