10' x 12'9" Persian Mahal Rug | Triple Diamond Medallions | Ivory Field with Navy Spandrels

Most room size Persian rugs fill the field edge to edge. This 10' x 12'9" Mahal does the opposite: it leaves a broad expanse of undyed ivory wool open and lets three linked diamond medallions carry the whole composition down the center. That restraint is what makes it work under furniture, because a sofa or a dining table sits on quiet ground instead of chopping up a busy pattern. The pile is 3/8" hand-knotted wool on a cotton foundation, the weave is honest village work with visible handspun character, and the condition is excellent with even pile from end to end. If you have been shortlisting 10x13 Persian rugs, this one covers the same footprint with far more open space than a typical all over design. Every rug we ship travels with a certificate of authenticity documenting origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

Three diamond medallions run the length of the field, each outlined in a crisp sawtooth of rust against ivory. The central one is the largest, a salmon ground carrying a stepped ivory star with a small floral heart, ringed by rosettes, hooked bars and tiny angular birds. The two flanking diamonds sit on a soft brown ground and repeat a quieter vocabulary of 8 petal rosettes, octagons and cruciform blossoms. At all 4 corners, deep indigo spandrels step inward with a serrated rust edge and fill with the kind of drawing that only comes off a village loom: stylized quadrupeds, cypress forms, hooked hexagons, boteh, combs and scattered stars, each one slightly different from its neighbor. The main border is a wide salmon band broken into compartments of latticed diamonds, stacked squares and angular hooks, and it is framed on both sides by narrow guard stripes of navy medallions and quartered rosettes. The border alone would carry a smaller rug; here it acts as a dense frame that makes the open field read even wider.

A Palette of Ivory, Salmon and Indigo

The ground is a warm undyed ivory that leans toward beige and buttermilk depending on the light, with gentle tonal drift across the width where the weaver changed yarn lots. That soft abrash is a hallmark of handspun wool and it keeps a large plain field from looking flat. Against it, the borders and the central medallion sit in a muted salmon that reads coral in daylight and dusty terracotta in lamplight, edged and detailed with a deeper brick rust. The corner spandrels supply the only truly saturated color, a rich indigo navy that anchors the 4 corners and grounds the whole composition. Inside the motifs you find secondary notes: a tobacco brown in the flanking medallions, pale sky blue in the small rosettes, ivory highlights that echo the field, and small bright red accents that flicker through the border compartments. It is a warm, sun softened palette that sits comfortably with cream plaster, oak floors, walnut furniture and leather, and it will not fight a room that already has pattern in the drapery or upholstery.

Mahal Weaving in Central Persia

Mahal rugs come from the villages of the Mahallat district on the Arak plain in west central Persia, the same weaving belt that produced the Sultanabad workshop pieces sought by collectors. These are not city atelier rugs and they were never meant to be. They are woven on village looms in large formats, with a medium knot count, a generous 3/8" pile and a heavy cotton foundation, and the whole point of the tradition is durability paired with bold, legible drawing. The wool from this region takes natural dye beautifully and holds a lanolin sheen that deepens rather than dulls with use, which is why so many Mahal rugs from the region are still on floors generations later. The fold back photograph shows the reverse: clean, even knotting, the pattern reading clearly through to the back, and straight selvedges with the original ivory fringe intact. That is the sign of a well handled piece that was woven properly the first time.