4' x 6' Silk Oriental Rug | Dome of Esfahan Starburst Design | Navy Blue & Turquoise | Brand New

This 4' x 6' hand-knotted silk rug is a dome design, the pattern weavers call Esfahan Dom or gonbadi, drawn as though you were standing under a tiled mosque ceiling and looking straight up. The whole field is silk, so the peach rays and turquoise panels change tone as you walk around the piece, going from pale gold in direct light to deep amber when the pile lies the other way. It has never been used, the pile stands full and even across the surface, and it ships with a certificate of authenticity. At this size it works as a standalone accent piece as easily as it works on a wall, and a small woven cartouche sits in the ivory guard border at one end.

Design and Motifs

A multi point star medallion sits dead center on ivory, ringed by burgundy hearts around a turquoise disc and a single gold and rose rosette at the very middle. From that star, long peach rays shoot outward and split the navy field into narrow trellis panels, each one filled with tiny framed rosettes and turquoise lozenges, so the eye is pulled from the border back toward the center every time. Between the rays, 8 arched niches hold turquoise lattice fans with paired birds and a vase beneath, the detail that gives this drawing its peacock reputation, and the same arch repeats at both ends and along both long sides. The 4 corners carry turquoise spandrels of pink peony sprays, then an ivory main border of scrolling rose vine, a navy vine guard on either side, and a narrow ivory outer band of small square florets. It is a dense, disciplined drawing for a small format, and among 4 x 6 area rugs that level of detail is unusual.

Navy Blue, Peach and Turquoise Color Reading

Navy blue is the ground color and it runs almost black in the field between the rays, which is what makes the lighter work read so cleanly against it. Over that sit two distinct blues: a bright peacock turquoise in the lattice fans and the corner spandrels, and a deeper royal blue in the vine guard borders. The rays and the trellis panels are a warm peach that shades toward apricot and soft camel where the silk catches light, and the main border is a pale beige to ivory that looks almost champagne under a lamp. Flowers supply the warm accents: rose pink and crushed raspberry peonies in the border and the panels, burgundy hearts around the medallion, sage and olive green leaves, and small hits of gold and mustard in the rosette centers. There is no harsh contrast anywhere, and the silk gives the palette a wet, lit quality in person that photographs only partly capture.

Origin and Weaving Quality

This piece was made in China, in the silk weaving workshops that specialize in exactly this kind of fine curvilinear drawing, and it is honestly an Oriental rug rather than a village weave: the pattern is a studio cartoon, followed knot for knot, with the star points, the arches and the corner spandrels mirroring each other precisely across both axes. Silk is what makes that possible. A finer knot takes the tight curve of a rose petal and the single-knot outlines you can see around the lattice bars, work that thicker yarn simply cannot hold at this scale. The folded corner shows a crisp, tight back with clean lines of knots, the ends are finished with long soft silk fringe, and the selvages are firm and straight. Nothing about this one is worn in, which is part of the appeal: the pile is still standing at full height and the sheen has not been walked down.