5'4" x 10'3" Persian Herati Rug | Red | Rectangular

A long rectangular rug knotted by hand in Persia, measuring 5'4" x 10'3". The field is red, filled edge to edge with small repeating flowerheads and leaves, and interrupted once by a pale ivory diamond at the centre. Wide borders of stepped zigzags in cream and dark blue run the length of both sides, so the rug reads as a bright middle inside a strongly drawn frame. Condition is noted as excellent, and the pile in the photographs stands evenly from fringe to fringe.

Design

The field carries an all-over Herati pattern: small lozenges of rosettes with curved leaves turning out from each corner, repeated in rows that the weaver has kept running right under the medallion rather than stopping for it. The medallion itself is a stepped ivory diamond holding a central rosette with four radiating sprays, outlined in dark blue. A large hexagonal reserve encloses the field, its edge drawn as a sawtooth line, and the four spandrels outside it are ivory with loosely spaced flower sprigs and small blossoming stems. The main border is a procession of triangles and chevrons in cream, each filled with tiny squares and hooks, flanked by narrow guard stripes of arrowhead zigzags. Nothing in the drawing is mechanical; the corner photograph shows the border motifs adjusting in size as they turn the corner.

Colour

The field is a red that photographs between raspberry and rose, deepening toward brick where the pile lies against the light and sitting much lighter than true maroon in the full-length shots. Against it the pattern is picked out in navy that reads almost black at a distance, in undyed ivory, and in a soft salmon that carries the chevrons of the border. Small touches of gold ochre and olive green appear in the rosettes and in the little filled squares of the border, and a few pale blue notes turn up in the guard stripes. The ivory medallion and spandrels are the only large quiet areas, and they hold the red in place.

Making

Hand-knotted in Persia on a cotton-coloured foundation visible in the back photograph, where the knotting is regular and the pattern comes through clearly on the reverse. The ends finish in plain ivory fringe. At 5'4" x 10'3" it is long for its width, a shape that suits a hall, a wide passage or the length of a dining table. More hand-knotted rugs in this and other weaves are listed across the shop.