10' x 12'10" Persian Mashad Rug | Rose Field, Navy Floral Border | Fine Wool, Excellent Condition

This is a full room size city weave from northeast Persia, a Persian Mashad rug hand-knotted in fine wool on a cotton foundation with a 3/8" pile that still stands full and even across the whole field. The drawing is classic Mashad: a deep navy lobed medallion floating on an open rose ground, camel spandrels at the 4 corners, and a wide navy main border framed by light blue guard stripes. At 120" by 154" it covers a 10x13 footprint comfortably, one of the most useful sizes we carry for a main living space or a large dining table. The back photograph shows the knotting straight on, tight and regular, with the original ivory cotton fringe intact at both ends. Every rug we ship leaves with a certificate of authenticity documenting origin, materials and construction.

Design and Motifs

The composition is built around a navy lobed medallion with a pale camel and ivory rosette at its center, ringed by small pink and coral blossoms and tipped at top and bottom by pendant finials that taper into the field. Around that core the ground is not left plain: it carries a dense all over vine system of palmettes, curled serrated leaves, 8 petal rosettes and small star flowers, all drawn with the fluid curved line that separates a city workshop from village work. The 4 corner spandrels repeat the medallion vocabulary on a camel ground, which is a Mashad habit and gives the field a clear oval shape without a hard outline. The main border runs a navy ribbon of alternating palmettes and cusped floral cartouches linked by scrolling stems, and it is framed on both sides by light blue guard borders filled with a running rosette and leaf meander, then a narrow ivory reciprocal stripe. Count the repeats and you can see the cartoon was followed closely from end to end.

A Rose Field Against Navy and Light Blue

The field color is the reason to buy this piece. It is a saturated rose, closer to raspberry than to red, and it holds a slight abrash that shifts a shade lighter across the upper third, which is exactly what you want to see from wool dyed in batches. Against that ground the medallion and main border read almost black in low light and resolve into a true dark navy under daylight. The secondary palette does the real work: soft powder blue in the guard stripes and in dozens of small blossoms, warm camel and buff in the spandrels and medallion center, olive and moss green in the leaves, coral and salmon in the flower heads, and clean ivory outlining that keeps every motif legible. The overall effect is cooler and more feminine than a standard red and navy formula, and it sits well with grey upholstery, walnut furniture and warm brass.

Mashad, Khorasan, and the Quality of the Weave

Mashad sits in Khorasan in the northeast of Persia, a pilgrimage city with a long workshop tradition and access to the long staple wool of the surrounding province. That wool is the reason Mashad rugs take dye so well and keep their luster for decades under traffic. This example is a fine Mashad rather than a coarse bazaar weave: the back shows small, tightly packed knots in even rows, the selvedges are original and sound, and the wide format was woven without the waisting or curl you see when a loom is not properly tensioned. Pieces of this scale and drawing were made for reception rooms, and this one has been kept well, with full pile and no repairs visible. If you are shopping the 10x13 Persian rugs range, this is the format that anchors a large room in one piece rather than two.