11'6" x 16'7" Persian Kashan Rug | Red Floral Field with Navy Lobed Medallion | Oversize Wool Pile

This is a full palace-scale piece, 11'6" x 16'7" of hand-knotted wool on a cotton foundation, and it is the formula that made the Persian Kashan rug the most recognised traditional floor covering in the world: a deep red field, a navy lobed medallion, ivory corner spandrels and a wide navy main border. At this footprint it covers a 12x17 room comfortably, seating and all, which puts it firmly in the category of oversize Persian rugs that are bought once and kept for decades. The pile is an even 3/8", the drawing is crisp from end to end, and the condition is excellent with no repairs or restoration. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The centre carries a stepped, lobed medallion drawn in navy, with small hooked brackets running off its shoulders and an inner cartouche of ivory around a soft blue core. Inside that core sits an 8 petal rosette surrounded by paired palmettes. The medallion is finished top and bottom with slender anchor pendants that reach into the field. Around it the red ground is not left open: it is filled edge to edge with a dense all-over lattice of curved vines, serrated lanceolate leaves, palmettes and small detached blossoms, all drawn on the curve rather than in straight lines. The 4 corners carry ivory spandrels filled with the same vine work, which is what gives the field its oval reading. The border system runs 5 bands deep, with a broad navy main border of alternating palmettes and rosettes on a scrolling vine, flanked by light blue guard stripes and narrow reciprocal edging. The repeat is measured, the corners resolve properly, and nothing in the drawing is rushed.

The Red and Blue Palette Up Close

The field red is a true warm madder red, clean rather than orange, and it reads slightly deeper in the shaded corners of the rug than it does under direct light. Against it, blue does most of the work: a dark navy in the medallion and the main border, and a brighter mid blue, close to a French blue, in the guard stripes and in many of the small blossom heads scattered through the field. The macro detail shot shows exactly how the palette is built, with a bright blue guard ground carrying yellow tendrils, ivory outlines, small orange and rust buds and a crimson flower head, plus a band of clear green above it. Ivory is used as the outlining colour throughout, which is what keeps a field this busy legible from standing height, and soft gold and olive green appear in the leafwork. The result is a rug that reads red and navy from the doorway and multi-coloured from a chair.

Kashan Weaving and Quality

Kashan sits in central Persia, north of Isfahan, and its workshops trace back to the Safavid court tradition. The town is known for soft, lustrous local wool and for exactly the formula you see here: red field, navy lobed medallion, ivory spandrels. It is also the design most people have seen without knowing its name, since when you watch Shark Tank there is a Persian Kashan on the floor. Weaving a 11'6" x 16'7" piece to this standard is a different job from weaving a 9x12, because a single loom has to hold tension and pattern registration across almost 17 feet of length without the medallion drifting off centre. The back of this rug shows a tight, regular knot grid with clean colour separation, the selvedges are intact and the ends are secure. Wool on a cotton warp at this density is what makes a Kashan a genuine long-life floor rug rather than a decorative object.