5'2" x 6'6" Persian Tabriz Rug | Wool & Silk Heriz Medallion | 60 Raj, Approx. 400 KPSI

This is a village drawing executed at city fineness. The Heriz style stepped star medallion normally belongs to coarse mountain weaving, but here a Tabriz workshop has knotted it at 60 Raj, roughly 400 knots per square inch, in wool with silk worked through the highlights, so every arrow, hook and serrated leaf lands exactly where the cartoon intended. At 5'2" x 6'6" it sits neatly in the 5x7 Persian rug range, small enough to move and large enough to anchor a seating group. The pile is full and even, the ends and sides are original and sound, and the rug is in perfect condition with no visible wear. It ships with our certificate of authenticity confirming origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

A large 8 pointed star medallion holds the center, built in ivory around a small rosette and edged with navy lobes that carry curling floral sprays. Two navy pendants run off the medallion top and bottom, each capped with a small ivory cartouche. The red field around it is not left open: it is packed with serrated Heriz leaves, hooked latch motifs, angular vine work and small blossoms in cream, rose and gold. Four ivory corner spandrels repeat the same vocabulary in reverse, their stepped edges outlined in navy. The main border is a navy ground carrying alternating octagonal rosettes and palmettes, framed on both sides by narrow salmon and ivory guard stripes with a repeating hook and star chain. Buyers who want more of this angular vocabulary can browse our geometric Persian rugs.

A Rust Red Field Against Navy and Ivory

The field is a deep rust red, warm rather than orange, and it reads slightly different from each end of the room because the silk highlights catch light at an angle. Against it the border is a near black navy blue, dark enough to give the whole rug a firm frame, while the medallion, spandrels and inner guard stripe are a soft ivory that runs toward cream. The secondary palette is where the weaver had fun: dusty salmon and antique rose in the palmettes, a muted olive green in the small leaves and border rosettes, pale gold in the scattered blossoms, and pinpricks of light blue and white in the guard stripes. Those greens and golds keep the red and navy from reading heavy, and the overall effect is formal without being dark.

Tabriz Weaving and the Raj System

Tabriz sits in northwest Persia and has been the country's most organized weaving city for centuries, with workshops that measure their own output in Raj, the number of knots across a gereh of about 2.75 inches. 40 Raj is ordinary commercial goods, 50 Raj is fine, and 60 Raj, the grade of this piece, is roughly 400 knots per square inch and the point at which a rug becomes collector grade. That density is why the serrated leaves have clean points instead of stair steps, and why the pendants keep their shape at full size. The foundation is cotton, tight and flat, which keeps the rug lying true, and the wool and silk pile gives it a quiet sheen that a pure wool Heriz will never have.