11'3" x 13'9" Persian Heriz Rug | Stepped Geometric Medallion | Brick Red Field, Ivory Spandrels

This is the kind of Heriz that sells a room in one look: a full 11'3" x 13'9" of brick red wool, drawn in hard straight lines, with a stepped medallion sitting dead center and two ivory spandrels opening the field at top and bottom. It is hand-knotted on a cotton foundation with a 3/8" wool pile that still has real body underfoot, and it holds its shape flat without a ripple. At this footprint it covers a full seating group or a 10 seat table with chairs pulled out, which puts it squarely among large Persian rugs in the 11x14 range. Every rug we ship carries a certificate of authenticity recording origin, materials and construction.

Design and Motifs

The drawing is pure Heriz and all of it is built from straight lines. A stepped, many pointed medallion holds the center, ringed in ivory outline with a small 8 petal rosette at its heart and navy pendants dropping north and south. Around it the field is laid out in a squared framework of ivory hooks and brackets, filled with angular serrated leaves, stiff palmettes and small hooked rosettes that repeat at a steady rhythm rather than curving and flowing. The two spandrels are worked in ivory and carry the same vocabulary in miniature, which is what gives the rug its strong graphic contrast from across a room. The main border runs a chain of hexagonal cartouches and palmettes on a deep navy ground, with narrow rust and ivory guard stripes and a plain outer selvage, and the corners resolve cleanly rather than being cut short. It reads as one of the more disciplined geometric Persian rugs in this size class.

Color Palette

The field is a warm brick red that shifts between terracotta, rust and a softer salmon tone depending on where the light falls, with the gentle horizontal movement in tone that comes from wool dyed in separate lots. Against it the spandrels are a clean oyster ivory, warmed slightly with cream and a hint of old parchment, and those two panels do most of the work of lightening the rug. Deep indigo navy anchors the main border and reappears inside the medallion, in the pendants and in the small flowerheads scattered through the field. Between the reds and the navy there are camel and antique gold accents, a muted olive green in the leaf forms, a soft rose in the border cartouches and small charcoal outlines that sharpen every motif. The close detail photograph shows how the ivory outlining is used as a drawn line rather than a filled area, tracing the brackets and medallion so the geometry stays legible even in a big room. Overall it is a warm, saturated red palette rather than a washed or pastel one.

Heriz Origin and Weave

Heriz is a group of weaving villages east of Tabriz in northwest Persia, sitting below Mount Sabalan. The wool from those flocks is famously tough and the local water is mineral rich, which is the practical reason Heriz rugs wear the way they do: the fiber takes dye deeply and resists abrasion for generations under furniture and foot traffic. Weavers there work from memory and from village drawings rather than from a full cartoon, which is why the design is angular, the medallion is stepped instead of curved, and small asymmetries appear from one side of the field to the other. Village work in this tradition is built for structure, not for a high knot count, and this piece shows it: a substantial 3/8" wool pile on a firm cotton foundation, with knot rows clearly visible in the close photograph and a heavy handle when you lift a corner. That combination of durable wool, bold geometry and honest village weaving is exactly why a good Heriz stays in a family for decades.