10'8" x 16'7" Persian Mahal Rug | All Over Palmette Design | Black Field | Excellent Condition

At 10'8" x 16'7" this Mahal covers a genuinely large floor, and it is drawn to be seen from across the room rather than from the doorway. The near black field carries an all over pattern that repeats without a central medallion, so the rug reads as one continuous surface no matter where the furniture lands. The wool is thick and springy at a 3/8" pile, knotted on a cotton foundation, and the ivory fringe and side finishes are intact and clean. Pieces at this width are scarce, which is why buyers searching oversize Persian rugs usually end up waiting for the right one. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The field is a classic Mahal all over design, built from rows of broad palmettes, round rosettes, serrated leaves and small squared cross forms linked by a thin vine. Look closely at the detail photograph and you can see how the weaver alternated the filler elements so no two adjacent rows are identical, which keeps a repeating pattern from turning mechanical across 16 feet of length. The main border runs a rose ground with alternating boteh and upright teal fan palmettes, framed on both sides by ivory guard stripes carrying a running vine of small blossoms, then a narrow reciprocal stripe at the outer edge. Corners are resolved cleanly on all 4 sides, a detail village workshops often fudge on a rug this size.

A Black Field Lit by Rose, Coral and Teal

The ground is a deep near black that shades toward inky charcoal where the light crosses the pile, and it does the heavy lifting here: every warm tone in the field gains contrast against it. The palmettes and rosettes move through salmon, dusty rose, coral and a deeper terracotta, with ivory and cream picking out the smaller blossoms and the cross forms. Scattered through the drawing are accents of teal blue and a muted sage green, the same teal that reappears as the fan motifs in the border. The main border is a soft rose to brick tone that lifts the whole perimeter, and the outer edge closes in a warmer red. It is a multi colored rug, but the palette is disciplined, which makes it easy to live with alongside wood floors, leather, and both cool and warm wall colors.

Mahal Weaving in the Sultanabad Region

Mahal rugs come from the Mahallat district in the Sultanabad area of west central Persia, around the town of Arak, a region that has produced large room size weaving for well over a century. The looms in these villages were built wide, and the local wool is long stapled and oily, which is exactly why Persian Mahal rugs wear so well underfoot. The weave here is a medium village knot count rather than a fine city weave, and that is the point: the heavier knot and generous pile give the rug its body, its weight and its long service life, while the bold scale of the palmettes suits a floor of this size far better than miniature drawing would. The back photograph shows an even, regular knot line and a firm handle, the signs of a rug woven at a steady tension from one end to the other.