12' x 12'7" Square Persian Tabriz Rug | Ivory Field, Sage Green Border | Signed, 400 KPSI, Never Used

A true square at 12' x 12'7" is a rug you look for over years rather than find on a shelf, and this signed Tabriz was woven at 60 Raj, roughly 400 knots per square inch, in wool with silk worked through the highlights. It has never been on a floor: the pile stands full and even, the ivory ends are clean, and the wool still carries the slight sheen that only unused weaving has. The weaver put his name in a small cartouche knotted into the dark guard border at one end, which tells you this came off a named workshop loom rather than an anonymous production run. Square rooms, centered seating groups and wide great rooms are exactly where a piece this shape earns its keep, and it sits comfortably among oversize Persian rugs in both scale and weight. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity documenting origin, materials and knot count.

Design and Motifs

The drawing is classic Tabriz workshop work: a large 8 lobed medallion centered on the field, built up in concentric rings of palmettes and small blossoms around a single round rosette at the heart. Pendants extend north and south, and the 4 corners answer the medallion with quarter spandrels filled with the same vocabulary, each anchored by a small stepped square that reads almost like a tile. Between medallion and border the ivory ground is covered edge to edge with curling arabesque vine, serrated saz leaves, lotus heads and split palmettes, all drawn with the continuous curved line that a 400 knot count makes possible. The main border runs a stately meander of large blossoms and paired leaves, framed on both sides by narrow guard stripes carrying a repeating X and diamond motif, and one of those guard bands hosts the weaver's cartouche.

A Palette of Ivory, Sage Green and Soft Rust

The field is a warm ivory that leans toward pale champagne under lamplight, and it does the important job of keeping a rug this large from feeling heavy. Against it the medallion reads as a muted rust rose, shading through terracotta and salmon into a soft blue-green core, with a deep ruby rosette at the exact center. The main border is a sage green, olive in the shadows and more golden where the silk catches light, while the guard stripes turn a dark brown-green with rust, ruby and small turquoise dots for punctuation. Scattered through the field are navy, slate blue, moss green, apricot and old rose in the individual flower heads, so the palette is broad without ever becoming loud. It is a quiet, slightly faded-antique color story that works with warm neutrals, walnut furniture and brass.

Tabriz Weaving and the 60 Raj Standard

Tabriz, in northwest Persia, measures fineness in Raj, the number of knots across a gereh of about 2.75 in. At 40 Raj a rug is commercial, at 50 it is fine, and at 60 Raj, roughly 400 knots per square inch, it crosses into collector grade where the curved line stops being approximate. That is the level this square was woven at, and you can see it in the crispness of the leaf tips and in how small the individual flower heads can be without turning to mush. The cotton foundation is tight and flat, the pile is close cropped so the drawing stays legible, and the silk is used sparingly as highlight rather than as filler. Add the signature cartouche and an unused 2000s pile, and this is a workshop piece bought at the level Tabriz masters intend their rugs to be judged.