5'9" x 8'10" Oriental Rug | Mahi Tabriz Fish Design | Fine Wool Pile, Never Used

This hand-knotted rug measures 5'9" x 8'10" and carries the Mahi Tabriz drawing in full, with a serrated lozenge medallion floating on a dense black field of tiny rosettes. The pile is fine wool on a cotton foundation, clipped low and even so the small motifs stay legible, and the sides and plain ivory fringe are tidy on all 4 edges. It is brand new and has never been on a floor, which you can see in the standing nap and the crisp outlines of the border vinework. As a true 6x9 size rug, it is one of the easiest shapes to place: a sofa and 2 chairs, a bed with the pile running out either side, or a 6 seat dining table with the chairs still on the wool. Every rug ships with a certificate of authenticity listing its size, materials, design and origin.

Design and Motifs

The field is a true Mahi, or fish, pattern: a diagonal lattice of small diamonds, each one holding a single rosette flanked by curved lanceolate leaves that read as fish circling the flower, repeated across the whole ground in an uninterrupted all over Herati lattice. At the center sits an elongated, finely serrated medallion built in 3 concentric frames, the innermost filled with its own miniature rosette grid and an 8 petal star at the very middle. Pendant cartouches rise and fall from the medallion on the long axis, and 4 large quarter medallion corners sweep in from the sides on long scalloped sickle lines, so the field reads as a lit diamond inside a dark ground. The main border runs palmettes and open rosettes joined by a curling vine, framed by narrow guard stripes of repeating lily and dot motifs that keep the whole composition tight rather than busy.

Color: Black Field, Blush Medallion, Ivory Rosettes

The ground is a deep near-black that lifts to soft charcoal where the light runs across the clip, and it is thickly dotted with ivory and cream rosettes, each cored with a small point of burgundy or faded brick. Those two values, black and ivory, give the rug its contrast, which is why it sits comfortably in rooms built around black and ivory rugs. The medallion, pendants and corner spandrels are worked in a pale blush rose over a warmer salmon ground, outlined in burgundy and shaded with touches of sage, so they glow against the dark field without turning pink-heavy. Through the leaves, vines and border scrolls there is a muted celadon and olive green, plus small amounts of wheat and dusty taupe, and the main border returns to black with ivory and pale green blossoms. The overall reading is dark and formal up close, soft and warm from standing height.

Hand-Knotted in China to the Mahi Pattern

This piece was hand-knotted in China, where a number of established workshops specialize in the classic formal patterns and weave them at a knot count fine enough to hold the Mahi lattice without the rosettes blurring into one another. You can judge that for yourself in the ruler photograph: the rows are close and regular, the wool is spun thin, and the field grid stays square across the full 69 inch width. The warps are cotton, which keeps the rug flat and stable, and the wool has been washed to a low sheen rather than a heavy luster. If you are weighing this against pieces from other weaving regions, our guide on what separates a Persian from an Oriental rug explains how origin, knotting and materials are assessed, and this one stands on honest workshop quality: an accurate drawing, clean finishing, and a hard-wearing wool pile that has never been walked on.