10' x 13'9" Persian Esfahan Rug | Najafabad Floral Medallion | 1980s Fine Wool

This is a room-size Esfahan design woven in the 1980s in Najafabad, the wool weaving town just west of Isfahan, and it measures 10' x 13'9" with a 3/8" fine wool pile on a cotton foundation. Everything the Esfahan drawing is known for is here, a star medallion, ivory spandrels and a continuous vine field, but executed in hardwearing all wool rather than silk highlights, which is exactly what you want in a rug of this footprint. The pile is even from end to end, the ends and sides are original, and at 40 years old the wool has already broken in and taken on that quiet sheen new rugs do not have yet. It sits comfortably among our 10x14 Persian rugs, covering a full seating group or a 10 seat dining table with skirt to spare. A certificate of authenticity is issued with the rug.

Design and Motifs

The center holds an 8 pointed star medallion, drawn in turquoise with a small saffron rosette at the heart, ringed by navy lobes and gold and cream palmettes that step outward into a wide floral halo. Slender pendants run off the medallion toward each end, and the field around it is filled with a symmetrical all over lattice of curling arabesque vines, lotus palmettes, serrated leaves and small multi colored blossoms, all mirrored across both axes so the pattern resolves the same way from either end of the room. The 4 corners carry ivory spandrels with their own blue vase and flower drawing, which is what visually separates an Esfahan layout from a plain open field rug. Framing it all is a deep navy main border of rotating palmettes and vine scroll, flanked inside and out by ivory guard stripes of small rosettes and a narrow saffron gold reciprocal stripe that lifts the whole edge. Close in, as image 7 shows, the outline work stays clean and the curved line holds its shape through the tightest scrolls.

Soft Red, Navy Blue and Ivory

The field is a soft red, closer to a clear cherry than to brick or rust, and because the vine work is drawn in ivory and cream the red reads lighter and more open than a saturated Kashan red would. Against it the borders go almost black navy, which gives the rug its frame and makes it easy to place next to dark wood or a charcoal sofa. Inside the pattern there is far more color than a quick glance suggests: turquoise and mid blue in the medallion and the small vases, ivory and butter cream in the vine and spandrels, saffron and marigold in the palmette centers, olive and sage in the leaves, plus small touches of salmon pink and dark rose in the border flowers. That 3 color spine of soft red, blue and ivory keeps everything disciplined while the smaller notes give the surface life under lamplight.

Najafabad and the Esfahan Weaving Tradition

Najafabad lies about 20 miles west of Isfahan and weaves to the Isfahan cartoon, the same medallion and vine vocabulary that came out of the Safavid court workshops from the 16th century onward, where the whole reputation rests on drawing, the curved line and the flowing vine. The difference is scale and material: the town specialized in large all wool room sizes on cotton, so a family could own the classic Esfahan design in a format meant to be walked on rather than a small workshop showpiece. The local wool is springy and takes dye cleanly, the pile here is clipped to a practical 3/8", and the back shown in image 9 is tight and regular with no slack rows. Structural details like the original selvedges, the even clip and the mellowed dyes all point to the same 1980s dating, and if you want to read those signs yourself our guide on how to date an Oriental rug walks through them.