3'6" x 5'4" Persian Qum Silk Rug | Tree of Life with Birds and Animals | Pure Silk Pile

Small rugs are where the best Persian weavers show off, because at this scale there is nowhere to hide a lazy knot. This Persian Qum silk rug measures 3'6" x 5'4" and is knotted entirely in silk, pile and foundation alike, which is why the surface changes tone as you walk around it: ruby in one direction, deep garnet in the other. The field is a full Tree of Life, drawn as a blossoming grove alive with stags, gazelles, rabbits and songbirds, framed by a near black border patrolled by leopards and peacocks. The pile is full, the ends and sides are original, and the small workshop tag is still tied to the back. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity recording origin, materials and measurements.

Design and Motifs

The field is closed at the top by a cusped arch, the old prayer format, and from the base of the rug several flowering trees climb and interlace until they fill the whole red ground with blossom. Look closely and the grove is populated: 2 large stags face each other near the center, a horned ibex stands under a fruiting tree, a small deer crouches in the grass, rabbits sit at the lower corners, and peacocks, pheasants and small songbirds perch on the thinner branches. The blossoms are drawn in at least 4 different forms, from tiny 5 petal flowers to dense brown fruit clusters, so no two branches repeat. The main border carries its own menagerie, leopards, deer and long tailed birds moving through curling acanthus leaves and large palmettes on a midnight ground, with narrow camel gold guard stripes and fine pearl and meander minor bands separating border from field. The drawing is curvilinear throughout, with no straight lines anywhere, which is only possible at a very high knot count.

A Ruby Red Field Against Midnight Navy and Camel Gold

The ground is a true ruby red, clear rather than orange, and because it is silk it reads bright and almost pink where the light catches the pile and deep wine where it does not. The main border is navy so dark it passes for black until light hits it and the blue comes through. Between those 2 poles sits the real color work: camel gold for the guard stripes, the outer band and the animal bodies, warm chestnut brown for the deer and the fruit clusters, ivory and pale silver for the blossoms and the birds, and small touches of olive green in the border leaves and a few bright accents in the flower heads. Occasional blue black outlines define the animals and keep the busy field legible from a distance. The overall effect is warm and jewel toned, red and gold first, with the navy frame giving the whole piece its weight.

Qum, the City That Weaves Only in Silk

Qum in central Persia is a comparative newcomer among Persian weaving cities, but it became the benchmark for silk within a couple of generations by refusing to compromise on material. The workshops there use only the finest silk, and the rivalry between them is what drives the knot count up and the drawing forward, which is exactly the tradition behind fine Persian silk rugs of this kind. On the back of this piece the knot nodes are tiny and evenly packed, the flatwoven ends are intact, and the fringe is a continuation of the silk warps rather than an applied addition, all signs of a proper city workshop rather than a copy. At 3'6" x 5'4" it works as a study or bedside piece, over a larger neutral rug, or mounted and hung, which is how a lot of collectors keep silk of this fineness off the traffic path.