12'2" x 21'2" Persian Serapi Heriz Rug | Oversize Geometric Medallion | Antique 1930s

This is a genuine 1930s Serapi Heriz from northwest Persia, hand-knotted in wool on a cotton foundation and measuring 12'2" x 21'2". Pieces of this length rarely survive in this state: the pile is even from end to end, the sides and fringes are original as shown in the corner photographs, and the drawing holds its rhythm across more than 21 feet without the medallion drifting off center. It sits squarely in the class of oversize Persian rugs that were woven for large reception rooms and estate halls rather than for the standard market, and at this scale it will cover a full great room or a long formal dining space wall to wall. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity documenting origin, age, materials and knotting.

Design and Motifs

The field carries a large 8 point navy medallion, stepped and serrated at every edge, with a gold outlined rosette at its heart and 4 coral cartouches set inside the navy ground. Long navy pendants run off the top and bottom of the medallion toward 2 further anchor shaped panels, each holding its own coral cartouche and ivory leafwork. The open red field around them is filled with angular palmettes, serrated leaves and thick pale blue vines that branch out like bare limbs, a drawing habit that separates the best village weavings from later commercial work. Ivory spandrels close all 4 corners with teal and coral vine scrolls, and the main indigo border runs a turtle palmette and rosette sequence flanked by ivory guard stripes. Buyers who favor this kind of straight lined, architectural drawing usually end up comparing it against other geometric Persian rugs, and few of them read this confidently at this size.

A Subdued Antique Red Field With Indigo, Ivory and Green

The ground is a soft antique red, closer to brick and terracotta than to a bright modern dye, and it shifts gently between warmer and cooler passages across the width, the natural abrash of hand dyed wool worked from different dye lots. Against it the medallion and the main border read a deep indigo navy that goes almost black in the shaded photographs and opens into true blue in daylight. Ivory carries the spandrels, the guard stripes and the outlines, giving the whole composition its light. The accent range is where this piece earns its Serapi label: sage and sea green in the central rosette, old gold in the medallion outline and the leaf tips, salmon and coral in the cartouches, and a pale sky blue in the vinework and the smaller blossoms. Nothing here is harsh, and the palette has settled over 90 years into the muted, slightly faded harmony that collectors pay a premium for.

Heriz Weaving and the Serapi Grade

Heriz is a cluster of villages east of Tabriz, below Mount Sabalan, where the mineral rich water and the local mountain wool produce a fleece that is unusually tough and takes dye with depth. Weavers there work from memory and from a village idiom rather than a full cartoon, which is why the lines stay angular and the corners step instead of curve. Serapi is the trade name long attached to the earlier and finer Heriz weavings, with a more open field, a more spacious medallion and a softer palette, and this 1930s piece shows all 3 traits. Village knotting in this group generally runs below 200 knots per square inch, so the quality argument is made through wool, dye and drawing rather than through fineness, and a rug at 12'2" x 21'2" demanded 2 or 3 weavers at a single loom over a long stretch of time. If you want to understand how pieces like this are placed in a period, our guide on how to date an Oriental rug walks through the same evidence we used here.