4'10" x 7' Persian Tabriz Rug | Wool & Silk Ivory Medallion on Black Blue | 2000s, Perfect Condition

This is a workshop piece from Tabriz in northwest Persia, woven in the 2000s on a cotton foundation with a pile of fine wool carrying silk in the highlights. At 4'10" x 7' it sits in the most useful scale a Persian rug comes in, and the drawing has not been simplified to suit it: the field is packed edge to edge with small scale vine work that stays legible under the hand. The pile is full and even, with no wear and no restoration, and the silk catches light along the medallion tracery and the cusped rays around it. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity. If you are shopping the format rather than the origin, our 5 x 7 Persian rugs page shows what else sits at this size.

Design and Motifs

The composition is the classic Tabriz statement: a round ivory medallion set dead centre, filled with scrolling arabesque and a small burgundy rosette at its heart, then ringed by a radiating crown of cusped palmettes and boteh that steps outward in two tiers. Beyond that crown the field becomes a dense all over floral lattice of split leaves, blossoms and thin curving vines, with a slim vase and flower spray drawn on the centre axis at each end. Four ivory spandrels close the corners with the same vine drawn in miniature. The main border runs a rose ground with alternating cartouches and rosettes, framed by narrow guard stripes in light blue and black that carry a running flowerhead. The curve holds everywhere, including in the corners, which is the test a Tabriz cartoon either passes or fails.

Color Palette in Detail

The field reads as a black blue, close to ink, dark enough that from standing height the rug looks nearly black and only shows its blue when light crosses it. Against that ground the ivory medallion and the four corner spandrels are the bright points, warm cream rather than white. The palmettes and boteh around the medallion mix soft rose, dusty burgundy, camel and a muted olive green, with light sky blue outlining several of them so they lift off the dark field. The main border is a faded rose to salmon tone with cartouches picked out in the same sky blue, olive and burgundy, and the outermost guard band is a pale blue grey that softens the edge against a floor. Small white blossoms scattered through the field keep the whole thing from going heavy. It is a dark rug with a warm, dusty palette rather than a cold one, which is why it sits well on both oak and walnut floors.

Tabriz Weaving and Quality

Tabriz sits in Persian Azerbaijan and has been weaving continuously longer than almost anywhere else in the country, which is why its workshops set the drawing standards other towns copy. Tabriz weavers count fineness in Raj, knots across a gereh of roughly 2.75 inches, and they work with a hooked knife that lets them tie small knots quickly and keep a curved line true. You can see the result on the reverse of this piece: tight rows on cotton warps, the pattern almost as sharp from the back as the front, and the flatwoven end finish tied off cleanly into the fringe. The wool is firm and springy with silk worked into the highlight areas, so the rug takes traffic like a wool rug while reflecting light like a finer one. Other pieces from the same weaving city are collected on our Persian Tabriz rugs page.