12'10" x 14'10" Persian Kerman Rug | Red Field, Navy Floral Medallion | 1980s Oversize Wool

Very few rugs this size hold their drawing together the way this one does. Measuring 12'10" x 14'10", it is a true room filler, close to square in proportion, which is exactly what a large open living space or a wide dining room wants. The pile is natural organic wool on a cotton foundation, hand-knotted in the 1980s, and the wool still has the buttery surface sheen you can see in the close-up photographs. Condition is excellent, with full pile edge to edge, clean ivory fringe and tight selvages. Because the proportions sit outside the usual 12x15 and 13x16 brackets, it belongs with our oversize Persian rugs, and like every piece we import it ships with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

A small navy medallion sits dead center, filled with pink roses and gold arabesque and ringed by a sage green scrolling frame that softens the transition into the red ground. Around it the field carries a dense, airy spray of flowering branches: 4 large corner bouquets, wisteria-like cascades of peach blossom, blue cornflowers and single roses drawn on thin green stems. The corner spandrels are worked in sky blue with ivory palmettes and cloudband edges, and a pale blue cartouche breaks the center of each side, each one holding a small footed flower vase. The main border is deep navy filled with pink and cream blossom clusters and scrolling acanthus, flanked by a wide beige garden band of paisley boteh and a narrow salmon stripe of linked rosettes. The outer edge finishes in plain red, which frames the whole composition cleanly against a floor.

A Red Field With Sky Blue and Sage Accents

The dominant color is a clear cherry red, deep rather than orange, and the long wool takes light so that it reads brighter under the window and darker at an angle. Against it the navy of the medallion and main border is almost black-blue at a distance, opening up close to reveal blue-green leaves and gold outlines. The third color is the one that makes this rug: a soft sky blue in the spandrels and cartouches, cooled further by sage green scrollwork and warmed by beige and cream guard bands. Accents run through the florals in salmon pink, rose, apricot orange and pale green, with occasional bright gold outlining. It is a warm rug overall, but the blue and green keep it from feeling heavy, and the beige borders give the eye a place to rest.

Kerman Weaving in Southeast Persia

Kerman lies in the southeast of Persia, and its weavers built their reputation on floral drawing and on the pictorial garden borders that are the city's signature, exactly the paisley and blossom bands you see running around this piece. The local wool is long-stapled and soft, which is why Kerman pile feels different underfoot from the harder mountain wools of the northwest, and why these rugs age with a sheen instead of going dull. The weave here is even and finely spaced for a rug of this scale, with the back showing crisp, regular knot rows and clear color separation on the fine outlines. The 1980s dating is consistent with the palette, the cotton foundation and the wear pattern; if you want to understand how those clues fit together, our guide on how to date an Oriental rug walks through the same checks we ran on this one.