5'2" x 8'7" Persian Nain Rug | Wool & Silk All Over Lattice | 6La Approx. 500 KPSI, 1980s

This 5'2" x 8'7" piece is a workshop weaving from the 1980s, knotted in wool with silk drawing the fine outlines, on a cotton foundation. It is the small format that Persian Nain rugs are best known for: a pale ivory ground covered edge to edge in small medallions, framed by a deep run of borders that take up nearly a third of the rug. At roughly 500 knots per square inch the pile is clipped low and tight, which is why the burgundy scrollwork in the photographs holds a crisp line rather than blurring. The condition is excellent, with full even pile, straight sides and original ivory fringe at both ends. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity recording size, material, origin and weave.

Design and Motifs

The field is an all over design, a diagonal lattice of lobed diamond medallions that alternate burgundy and light blue row by row, each one built around an 8 petal rosette and finished with curling scroll tips at the 4 points. Between them sit small flowering vases, spiky olive green leaf sprays, star flowers and tiny single blossoms, so no part of the ivory ground is left plain. The border scheme is unusual for a Nain and one of the real pleasures of this rug: a wide ivory main band carries stepped geometric diamond medallions with hooked finials in blue and chocolate brown, set against a dense micro lattice, while narrow peach and ivory vine stripes and thin blue and burgundy guard stripes separate field from border. The corners resolve cleanly, with the lattice reaching the frame rather than being cut awkwardly.

Color Palette

The ground is a warm ivory that reads closer to soft beige in daylight, the kind of tone that sits well in rooms decorated in ivory and beige. Against it the two leading colors are a clear deep burgundy, used for the alternating medallions and their scrolls, and a light sky blue that cools the whole field and shifts toward soft teal where the silk catches light. Supporting tones are a muted peach in the medallion centers and the border vine stripes, olive and sage green in the leafwork, a dusty rose in the border rosettes, and fine navy to near black outlines that give every motif its edge. Small touches of chocolate brown appear in the border medallions and the hooked finials. The silk is used sparingly for highlights, so the sheen moves across the surface as you walk around the rug rather than shouting from one angle.

Nain Origin and Weaving Quality

Nain sits on the edge of the central Persian desert, east of Isfahan, and came to rug weaving late, in the 20th century, after its fine wool cloth trade declined. The town took the drawing discipline of Isfahan and pushed it into very high knot counts, which is why a Nain is judged first on fineness. Weavers grade their work by the number of threads twisted in each warp bundle: 9La is the standard quality, while 6La Nain weaving uses thinner bundles, allowing more knots in the same space and the smaller, sharper motifs you see across this field. At approximately 500 knots per square inch, with silk reserved for outlines and a short clipped pile over a cotton foundation, this rug sits in the collector range of the town's output rather than the commercial one, and it has the flat, firm handle of a properly beaten weave.