10' x 13'6" Persian Kashan Rug | Navy Blue Floral Medallion | Signed Cartouche

This is a full room size piece at 10' x 13'6", hand-knotted in Persia with a 3/8" wool pile on a cotton foundation, and it belongs to the classic school of Persian Kashan rugs: a deep navy blue field, a red lobed medallion, ivory corner spandrels and a wide red main border. What lifts it above the ordinary is the cartouche woven into the top border, a small green and ivory panel carrying the weaver's inscription in Persian script, which is the mark of a named workshop rather than an anonymous commercial run. The pile is even and full with no thin areas, the ends and sides are sound, and the rug reads as excellent and never used. If you are shopping 10x14 Persian rugs for a large formal space, this is the size that anchors a full seating group rather than floating under it. Every rug we ship carries a certificate of authenticity confirming it is hand-knotted, its origin and its materials.

Design and Motifs

The drawing follows the Kashan formula and follows it well. At the center sits a stepped ivory core filled with a radiating star of blue rosettes and hooked leaves, set inside a red lobed medallion that steps outward in tiers and finishes with a pendant at each end. The navy field around it is not left open: it is packed with a continuous lattice of curling vine, Shah Abbasi palmettes, serrated acanthus leaves and small ivory blossoms, all mirrored precisely top to bottom and left to right. The 4 corners carry ivory spandrels drawn with the same vine work, which is what gives the field its oval reading. The border system runs in layers, a broad red main band of alternating palmettes and rosettes on a scrolling vine, flanked by light blue guard stripes and then narrow ivory minor borders, so the eye steps inward in stages instead of jumping straight to the medallion. The woven cartouche sits centered in the upper main border.

Navy Blue, Red and Ivory Color Palette

The field is a genuinely dark navy, closer to midnight than to royal blue, and it stays dark across the whole surface rather than washing out toward the ends. Against it the main border and medallion read as a deep tomato red with a brick undertone, warm rather than orange. Ivory does the structural work here, outlining the medallion core, filling the corner spandrels and drawing the thin minor borders, and it is a soft unbleached cream rather than a bright white. The greens are the quiet surprise: sage and olive in the leaf work, plus the mint green panel behind the inscription in the cartouche. Scattered through the field and borders are secondary tones that only show up close, light powder blue in the guard stripes and rosette centers, soft rose pink in the flower heads, small notes of gold and a warm brown in the vine. The overall effect from standing height is dark, rich and formal, while up close it is a surprisingly varied multi color drawing.

Kashan Weaving and Workshop Quality

Kashan sits in central Persia north of Isfahan and its weaving goes back to the Safavid court workshops, which is why the town's output has always leaned toward formal medallion layouts rather than village geometry. The local wool is soft and lustrous and it takes dye deeply, which is exactly why a Kashan navy holds its depth the way this field does. The back shown here is tight and regular, the knot rows are straight and the outlines stay crisp through the tightest curves of the vine work, all signs of a workshop loom and an experienced pair of weavers rather than a rushed commercial piece. Kashan is also the most recognizable Persian design in America without most people knowing its name: when you watch Shark Tank there is a Persian Kashan on the floor. This one carries the same vocabulary at a scale, a signature and a condition that put it well above the usual.