4'8" x 7'6" Persian Kashan Rug | Signed Cartouche | Red Field, Ivory Medallion, Fine Wool

Measuring 4'8" x 7'6", this Persian Kashan rug is a recent weaving in perfect condition, with a full pile that still stands upright across the whole field and clean, even selvages on both sides. The weaver signed the piece in an ivory cartouche set into the end border, which on a Kashan means a named loom rather than anonymous bazaar work. It falls squarely in the medium size Persian rugs range, wide enough to hold a sofa and two chairs or to fill the foot of a bed. A certificate of authenticity is issued with the rug, recording the origin, the hand-knotted construction and the materials.

Design and Motifs

The drawing follows the classic Kashan formula, executed with more detail than the size demands. At the center sits an ivory medallion built around a turquoise 8 petal rosette, ringed by small red blossoms and framed by a lobed navy cartouche that throws out curling split-leaf arabesques to the north and south. Long navy pendant finials extend from the top and bottom of the medallion into the field. The red ground between them is not left open: it carries a continuous lattice of thin scrolling vine, palmettes, rosettes and tiny flowering sprays, every element outlined in ivory so the pattern reads clearly from standing height. The 4 corners are filled with ivory spandrels of the same vine work, which lift the corners visually and stop the navy border from closing in. That main border is a deep navy band of alternating palmettes and flowering stems on a serpentine red vine, flanked by cornflower blue guard stripes of rosettes and stylized leaf forms, with narrow reciprocal bands of ivory, yellow and red separating each register.

A Red, Navy and Ivory Palette

The field is a clear tomato red, warm rather than brick, and it holds that tone evenly from one end to the other with only the gentle abrash you expect from hand-spun wool. Against it the navy is deep, almost black where the pile falls away from the light, which is what gives the medallion and the wide border their weight. Ivory does the structural work: it outlines nearly every vine, fills the 4 corner spandrels, forms the medallion core and runs as fine reciprocal banding between borders. Inside that framework the weaver worked a surprising number of secondary tones, turquoise and sky blue in the rosette centers, olive and moss green in the leaves, soft brown, rose pink and a thin yellow highlight line that appears along the guard stripes. The ivory fringe and the red end kilim finish the palette cleanly. Under lamplight the wool takes on a satin sheen, and the red reads deeper in the evening than it does under daylight.

Kashan Weaving and Quality

Kashan lies in central Persia, north of Isfahan, and its looms trace back to the Safavid court workshops that set the standard for the medallion-and-spandrel layout still woven there today. Local wool is soft and lustrous, it takes dye well, and it wears slowly, which is why the red field, navy medallion and ivory spandrel formula became the most recognizable image of a Persian rug anywhere. When you watch Shark Tank there is a Persian Kashan on the floor. This example shows the traits a buyer should look for: a tight, regular knot count that lets the vine tracery stay curved rather than stepped, a level clip across the whole surface, straight sides with a firm wool selvage, and a back that is flat and uniform with no pulled corners. The signature in the border ties it to a specific workshop, and at 4'8" x 7'6" it is a piece you can put into daily use and still hand down.