11' x 16'2" Persian Khorasan Rug | Antique 1940s Floral Medallion | Oversize Wool Pile

Woven in the 1940s in the Khorasan province of northeast Persia, this 11' x 16'2" antique is the kind of piece that was made for a room nobody needed to apologize for. The wool pile is hand-knotted on a cotton foundation, the drawing is drawn out in full classical formality across nearly 178 square feet, and the years have pulled the red field down into a soft rose that no new rug can imitate. At this footprint it belongs with the true oversize Persian rugs, covering a large living room or a long formal dining table with room to spare on all 4 sides. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The composition is a classical center medallion layout, but drawn with unusual density. A lobed medallion sits at the heart of the field on a deep navy ground, filled with ivory arabesque panels, small turquoise cross-rosettes and a central 8 petal flower, then closed top and bottom by long pendant finials. Around it the field runs as one continuous curvilinear vine system: scrolling stems, split palmettes, serrated saz leaves, cypress-like sprays and small rosettes, all mirrored across both axes so that the rug reads the same from either end. The 4 corner spandrels drop into navy and carry their own dense arabesque, which gives the field the effect of a window opening onto the medallion. The main border is a navy ground of linked palmettes and turning vinework, flanked on both sides by red minor borders of rosette and leaf meander and a fine ivory outer guard stripe. The detail photographs show how tightly the outlines are held, with each flower kept crisp in ivory or black against the ground.

A Deep Red Field With Navy, Ivory and Green Accents

Red is the governing color, but it is not one red. The open ground shifts between a dusty rose and a full crimson depending on where the light falls and how the pile lies, the natural result of hand-dyed wool aging in place for 80 years. Against it the weaver set a near-black indigo navy for the medallion core, the spandrels and the main border, which anchors the whole design and keeps the density readable. Ivory and warm beige carry the vine outlines and much of the border drawing, with a soft cream running through the outer guard stripe. Scattered through the field and the border flowers are olive and sage green leaves, a muted light blue that comes forward in the close-ups, touches of pink and apricot in the rosettes, and small black accents used to outline the palmettes. Seen from the side, as in the fold photographs, the pile shows the deeper jewel tones the overhead view flattens.

Khorasan Weaving in Northeast Persia

Khorasan is the far northeast province of Persia and the historic home of some of the country's most refined floral weaving, centered on the provincial capital and its workshops. Pieces of this scale and finish come out of that workshop tradition rather than village looms: a full-size cartoon, a wide loom capable of holding 11 feet of width true over 16 feet of length, and a weaver disciplined enough to keep the curved vine flowing at that scale without the drawing breaking down. The regional wool is soft and takes dye deeply, which is exactly why these rugs age the way this one has, losing height without losing color. If you are comparing it with the workshop pieces from the same province, our guide to Persian Mashad rugs covers the weave and the drawing in detail, the wider selection of antique Mashad rugs sits alongside this one, and if you want to understand how a 1940s date is established, read how to date an Oriental rug.