10' x 13' Persian Isfahan Rug | Crimson Field & Celadon Medallion | 1980s Fine Wool, Excellent

This is a room-size 10' x 13' floral medallion woven in the classic Isfahan manner, dating to the 1980s and still in excellent condition. The pile is 3/8" fine wool on a cotton foundation, dense enough to hold the fine curved drawing yet soft underfoot, and the wool has taken on the quiet sheen that only decades of gentle use produce. The drawing follows the formula that made Persian Isfahan rugs collectible: a single lobed medallion, an open crimson ground filled with continuous vine, and a deep blue border that frames the whole composition. Every rug ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The center holds a small 8 petal rosette with a ringed core, built up in ivory and rose and set inside a large lobed medallion whose interior is filled with soft blue and pale gold leafwork. Around it the crimson field opens into wide sweeping arabesques, each scrolling stem carrying serrated split leaves, palmettes and small blue rosettes, with pairs of stylized bird-like leaf forms tucked into the curves. The composition is mirrored on both axes, so the same vine turns identically at the top and bottom of the field, a sign of careful drawing rather than improvised village work. Four corner spandrels in pale pistachio green cut across the field on soft curved lines and repeat the vine at a smaller scale. The main border is a broad blue band of alternating cartouche palmettes and red fan-shaped flowers joined by a thin continuous stem, flanked by ivory and red guard stripes and a narrow reciprocal inner band that separates border from field without interrupting the movement of the pattern.

A Crimson, Teal and Celadon Palette

Color is what carries this rug across a large room. The ground is a true crimson red with a slight cool cast, deeper in the open areas and lit from within where the pile catches the light. Against it, the medallion and the corner spandrels read as a soft celadon and pistachio green that shades into pale gold, while the interior of the medallion adds a chalky sky blue and a warm ivory. The vine scrolls are outlined in ivory and light gray-blue, which keeps the drawing legible instead of letting it sink into the red. The main border shifts to a petrol teal blue, clearly cooler and greener than a standard navy, and the small flowers set into it bring in poppy red, ochre, dark indigo and touches of rose and orange. Ivory guard stripes and the ivory reciprocal band keep the transitions crisp. The overall effect is a red and blue rug with an unusual green heart, which is exactly what makes it work with both warm woods and cooler modern paint colors.

Isfahan Weaving and Quality

Isfahan sits in central Persia and has been a weaving capital since the Safavid court workshops of the 16th century. Its reputation rests on drawing: the curved line, the flowing vine, the precise repeat, none of which survive unless the weave is fine enough to carry them. That is the tradition this piece belongs to, and the back photograph shows the payoff, an even, tightly packed wool knot on a cotton warp with straight rows and no crowding at the turns. The wool was clearly chosen for luster rather than bulk, which is why a 3/8" pile still reads as a fine city weave rather than a thick village one. Pieces from the 1980s like this one sit in a useful spot for collectors, old enough for the dyes to have mellowed and for the surface to have gained patina, young enough to be used daily without hesitation, and you can read more on how age is judged in our guide to how to date an Oriental rug. If you are comparing it against other 10x13 Persian rugs, note how much of this field is left open for the vine to breathe, a luxury a less confident workshop would have filled in.