10'3" x 13' Persian Bijar Rug | All-Over Paisley Boteh on Ivory | Excellent Condition

This is a full room size Persian Bijar rug measuring 10'3" x 13', hand-knotted in wool on a cotton foundation with a dense, heavy handle you can feel the moment you lift a corner. The field carries no medallion at all: instead there are hundreds of small paisley boteh and 8 petal rosettes marching in tight diagonal rows from selvage to selvage, the kind of disciplined all-over drawing that takes a patient weaver years to finish at this scale. The pile stands a full 3/8" and the colors have settled into that mellow, slightly sunlit ivory and rust balance that older Bijar wool develops. Condition is excellent with even pile across the whole surface and clean, straight sides. Every rug we ship carries a certificate of authenticity confirming origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The field is a repeating boteh lattice, the teardrop paisley motif that Persian weavers have drawn for centuries, here alternated with round rosette heads so the eye reads two patterns at once: a grid of flowers and a grid of paisleys leaning the same direction. Each boteh is outlined in dark brown and filled with tiny florets, and the small connecting stems and serrated leaves between them fill the ground so completely that almost no open space remains. The main border is a generous ivory band of larger paisleys and palmettes joined by a vine, framed on both sides by narrow guard stripes of reciprocal floral heads. The corners are resolved cleanly, with the border drawing turning properly rather than being cut off, which is a good sign of a well planned cartoon. On a rug of these proportions the all-over repeat is the right choice: furniture can sit anywhere on it without hiding a central medallion, which is why buyers looking at 10x13 Persian rugs so often end up choosing a repeating pattern.

A Multi-Color Palette Anchored in Ivory and Rust

The ground is ivory to soft cream, and because the motifs sit so close together the overall impression from a standing height is warm terracotta rust rather than white. Look closer and the palette opens up: brick red and deep madder in the paisley bodies, dark brown and near black in the outlines, a clear sky blue in the small rosette centers that lifts the whole field, plus touches of pale salmon, camel and olive green in the florets. The border reverses the balance, putting a wide ivory ground under red and blue paisleys so the rug is framed in light. There is no harsh contrast anywhere and no chemical brightness; these are settled wool tones that sit comfortably with oak, walnut, antique brass and with warm neutral walls. In daylight the rust reads deeper and the blues cooler, while under lamplight the ivory turns golden and the reds glow.

Bijar: The Iron Rug of Persia

Bijar sits in Kurdistan in northwestern Persia, and its Kurdish weavers built a reputation on construction rather than fineness. Wefts are beaten down with a heavy metal comb while the rug is still damp on the loom, which compacts the knots so tightly that the finished piece is stiff, heavy and nearly indestructible; this is the reason the trade has called Bijar the iron rug of Persia for well over a century. The reverse of this rug, visible in the third photograph, shows exactly that: a rigid, closely packed back with crisp knot definition and clean rows. Local wool from the high pastures is greasy and resilient, so the pile recovers from footfall instead of matting, which is why these rugs survive generations of family use in the busiest rooms of a house. If you are comparing weaving groups, our guide to Bijar, Bijar Zanjan, Bijar Tekab and Bijar Bukan explains how the districts differ in handle, drawing and wool.