10'3" x 13'7" Persian Kashan Rug | Signed Ivory Medallion on Red Field | Excellent Condition

This is a room-size, signed Persian Kashan rug measuring 10'3" x 13'7", hand-knotted in wool on a cotton foundation and finished with an ivory cartouche woven into the top border, the weaver's own mark and the sign of a workshop piece rather than an anonymous commercial run. The pile is full and even across the whole field, the sides and ends are original, and the colors have the depth you only get from a well-spun, well-dyed wool. At this footprint it sits comfortably with the rest of our 10x14 Persian rugs, covering a full seating group or a 10 seat dining table with margin to spare. Every rug we ship leaves Freeport with a certificate of authenticity documenting origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The drawing follows the classic Kashan formula and executes it with unusual care. An ivory lobed medallion floats at the center, filled with a stellar 8 petal rosette, 4 leaf-shaped cartouches and a ring of small rose sprays, and it finishes top and bottom in a pointed navy pendant. Around it the red field is not left open: it carries a dense all-over lattice of curved vine scroll, serrated leaves, palmettes and small naturalistic flower heads that reads almost like a garden seen from above. The 4 corner spandrels are worked in navy and set with large ivory and rose palmette clusters, the same motif repeated at all 4 corners so the layout stays perfectly balanced. The main border is a wide navy band of alternating palmettes and rosettes linked by an ivory vine, flanked by narrow guard stripes of running flowerheads, and the whole frame is drawn with the curvilinear precision that separates a city loom from village work.

A Deep Red Field Framed in Indigo Navy

The ground is a true madder red, warm and slightly raspberry in daylight rather than orange or brick, and it holds that tone evenly from end to end. Against it the border reads as a deep indigo navy, close to black in the shadows and opening to blue where the light catches the pile, which is exactly the contrast that makes the ivory elements jump. The medallion and the corner palmettes are cream to soft ivory, shaded with rose pink and a dusty salmon that keeps them from looking flat. Scattered through the field are small notes of sage green, olive, camel gold, terracotta and pale blue in the individual flower heads, so the Multi designation is earned by dozens of small accents rather than by large blocks of secondary color. The ivory guard stripes and the natural cotton fringe finish the rug cleanly, and the overall effect is a formal red and navy palette that anchors cream walls, dark woods and leather without competing with them.

Kashan: Central Persia and the Court Workshop Tradition

Kashan sits in central Persia, north of Isfahan, and its looms trace back to the Safavid court workshops that produced some of the most celebrated carpets ever woven. What the town has always had is soft, lustrous local wool and weavers trained to hold a curved line, and the red field with a navy lobed medallion and ivory spandrels is the formula the city made famous. It is also the design most Americans already know without knowing its name: when you watch Shark Tank there is a Persian Kashan on the floor. The back of this piece, shown against a ruler, is tight and regular with small clean knot nodes and no slack in the weft, which is why the design stays crisp at 10'3" x 13'7" instead of blurring across a large field. The signature cartouche confirms a named workshop stood behind it, and the wool has already taken on the low sheen that Kashan pile develops as it settles.