4'5" x 7' Persian Kashan Rug | Antique Red Field, Indigo Floral Borders | Kork Wool, Circa 1950s

Hold this 4'5" x 7' piece up to the light and the kork wool does what only good Kashan wool does: the antique red field shifts between brick and soft rose as the nap turns. This is a mid-century Persian Kashan rug from central Persia, hand-knotted around the 1950s on a cotton foundation, with a lobed ivory and blue medallion anchoring a field packed edge to edge with flowering vine. The pile is still full, the drawing is crisp in the corners where cheaper weaves go soft, and the colors have aged into that mellow, slightly powdery tone collectors pay for. It ships with our certificate of authenticity, which records origin, materials, age and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The center carries a lobed indigo medallion filled with ivory cartouches and small 8 petal rosettes, finished top and bottom with slender blue pendants that reach into the field. Around it the field is not left open: scrolling vines, palmettes, serrated leaves and small blue blossoms cover every inch in a mirrored all-over layout, so the medallion reads as a bright pause rather than an isolated motif. The 4 corner spandrels are drawn in the same indigo as the medallion and filled with curling arabesques and cream rosettes, which frames the red field cleanly. The main border runs on deep indigo with rose palmettes, cypress-like leaf forms and turning vine, and it is held between narrow ivory guard stripes stacked with small boteh and blossom buds, a detail visible in the corner close-ups. Every element is symmetrical across both axes, the sign of a cartoon-drawn town weave rather than improvised village work.

The Color: Antique Red, Indigo and Ivory

The field is an antique red with a cool, slightly rose cast rather than a hot modern crimson, and it carries gentle horizontal variation from one dye lot of yarn to the next, which keeps a large block of red alive. Against it the borders go deep indigo blue, almost ink in the close-ups, with lighter sky blue and teal used for leaf interiors and small flower heads. Ivory does the structural work: the guard stripes, the heart of the medallion and the outlines of the larger palmettes. Rose pink appears in the border rosettes and scattered buds, with olive green, soft gold and a chocolate brown for stems and outlining. The kork wool pile is what makes the palette glow, because the finer fleece takes dye deeply and reflects light instead of absorbing it. Red and blue in this proportion sits easily with dark wood, brass and warm stone floors.

Kashan: The Weaving Town and the Quality

Kashan sits in central Persia, north of Isfahan, and its weaving goes back to the Safavid court workshops. The town built its reputation on soft lustrous local wool and on one classic formula, a red field with a navy lobed medallion and ivory spandrels, executed tightly enough that the curved line stays curved. That formula is so embedded in how Americans picture a Persian rug that when you watch Shark Tank there is a Persian Kashan on the floor. This example shows the traits worth paying for: a tight, even weave with small knots that let the vine scroll without stepping, straight sides, and a pile that has worn evenly over roughly 70 years. At 4'5" x 7' it is one of the most usable formats in the house, which is why 5x7 Persian and Oriental rugs move fastest, and if you want to understand the dating of a mid-century town weave, our guide on how to date an Oriental rug walks through the same evidence we used here.