10' x 14' Persian Kashan Rug | Navy Field, Ivory Floral Medallion | 1970s, Perfect Condition

This is the Kashan formula turned inside out: instead of the usual red ground, the weaver set a deep navy field under a wide red border, and the result is a room-size piece that reads dark and calm from a distance and extraordinarily busy up close. Woven in the 1970s on a cotton foundation with a 3/8 inch Persian wool pile, it has come through five decades in perfect shape, with full even pile from end to end, original sides and original ends. At 10' x 14' it covers a standard dining table with chairs pulled out, or anchors a full seating group, which is why 10 x 14 Persian rugs sell so quickly. Every rug we ship carries a certificate of authenticity confirming the origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The drawing follows the classic Kashan layout without shortcuts. A lobed red medallion sits dead center, with an ivory inner cartouche built around an 8 petal rosette on a pale sky blue ground, and stepped ivory cresting above and below. Two red pendants run out along the long axis, each one filled with its own small palmette bouquet. The navy field around the medallion is not left open: it carries a dense all-over lattice of curved vines, split leaves, rosettes and shah abbasi palmettes drawn in rose, ivory, gold and soft olive, mirrored across both axes so the pattern resolves cleanly at the 4 corners. Red spandrels with ivory scrollwork close the corners of the field. The border system has 7 bands in total, with a wide red main border of alternating palmettes and cloudband vine, flanked by ivory rosette guard stripes and narrow reciprocal minor stripes at the outer edge.

A Navy and Red Palette With Real Depth

The field is a true midnight navy that shifts toward indigo where the light catches the pile, and against it the secondary colors do all the work. Flower heads come in rose pink, coral, brick red and cream, with olive and pistachio green reserved for the stems and leaf tips, which is what keeps the field from reading purely warm. Sky blue appears in small doses inside the palmettes and again as a guard stripe, and it is that pale blue against the navy that gives the rug its lift. The main border is a clear tomato red, several shades brighter than the deeper reds inside the medallion, and the ivory guard bands separate the two so the eye never confuses them. Touches of gold and cinnamon brown in the vine work, along with the ivory medallion and corner spandrels, tie the whole composition to warm floors, walnut furniture and antique brass.

Kashan: Central Persia and the Weaving Standard

Kashan sits in central Persia north of Isfahan, and its looms trace back to the Safavid court workshops that produced some of the most important pieces in the history of the craft. The town's reputation rests on two things: soft, lustrous local wool that takes dye beautifully and holds a sheen for decades, and disciplined workshop drawing where the curved line stays curved across 14 feet of length. This piece shows both. The knotting is tight and regular, the pile is short and even, and the outlines of the palmettes stay crisp even in the corners. If you have ever wondered how to date an Oriental rug, the color chemistry, the cotton warps and the pile wear here all point squarely at the 1970s. Kashan is also the rug most Americans have seen without knowing it: when you watch Shark Tank there is a Persian Kashan on the floor. Read more in our guide to Persian Kashan rugs.