13'1" x 19'10" Oriental Rug | Tabriz Mahi Design | Ivory Wool and Silk, Never Used

This is a genuine hand-knotted Oriental rug made in India, woven in wool with silk highlights on a cotton foundation, and drawn to the classic Tabriz Mahi pattern. At 13'1" x 19'10" it belongs in the true palace category, one of the few sizes that can hold a room of 20 feet or more without looking undersized, and it sits among the largest pieces in our range of oversize Oriental rugs. It is brand new, never used, with full pile, straight sides and clean ivory ends, and it ships with a certificate of authenticity. Rugs this heavy usually attract a freight surcharge elsewhere; here it ships free to all 50 states.

Design and Motifs

Mahi means fish, and the entire field is covered in the herati fish pattern: a small diamond lattice, a rosette at the center of each diamond, and 4 curled lanceolate leaves flanking it that read as fish circling a pool. The repeat is drawn at a very small scale here, so the lattice runs edge to edge across nearly 20 feet without a break in rhythm, which is only possible at a fine knot count. A scalloped, many-lobed medallion sits dead center, outlined in pale silk and filled with the same fish lattice in a darker tone, and it drops slender pendant finials toward each end. A second, much larger scalloped outline frames the open field and creates 4 corner spandrels filled with a denser version of the same motif. The border system is unusually deep: a wide ivory main band of palmettes, rosettes and rose arabesque vines, flanked on both sides by roughly 8 narrow guard stripes carrying reciprocal trefoils, running vine and small boteh forms.

The Ivory Palette and Its Accents

The ground is ivory, warm rather than stark white, and it carries the whole design. Against it the lattice is picked out in burgundy and dusty rose, the rosette centers alternate between deep slate blue, forest green and cream, and the leaves are worked in camel and soft sage. The center medallion shifts to a camel and olive ground with pale blue and white rosette highlights, so it reads as a warm island rather than a hard contrast block. The main border is ivory as well, with salmon pink arabesques, sage green leaf work, cherry red flower heads and fine navy outlines, while the narrow guards add a red and slate zigzag edge that frames everything cleanly. Silk is used in the outlines and the small highlights, which is where the sheen in the close-ups comes from. Overall it is a neutral, light rug with a great deal of quiet color inside it, easy to place over pale stone, wide plank oak or a dark walnut floor.

Made in India in the Tabriz Mahi Tradition

India is where most of the world's good contemporary hand-knotted weaving is now done, and the best Indian workshops specialize in exactly this kind of work: fine, tightly drawn classical patterns in wool and silk, executed at sizes that older workshops rarely attempt. A 13'1" x 19'10" loom has to be built for the job and stays warped for well over a year, with several weavers working shoulder to shoulder from the same cartoon, which is why the lattice stays true and the medallion lands perfectly centered across both axes. The wool is spun for durability and clipped to a medium pile, the silk is reserved for outlines and highlights, and the cotton foundation gives the rug the weight and flatness you can see in the floor photographs. The back tag in the last image records the workshop number and the measured size taken off the rug itself.