5' x 5' Round Silk Oriental Rug | Esfahan Sunburst Medallion | Brand New, Never Used

This is a 5' x 5' round rug knotted with a full silk pile, brand new and never walked on, and it carries the original workshop tag shown in the last photograph (Rug No. 59500). Every piece we ship leaves here with a certificate of authenticity that records the size, the weave, the materials and the origin. At 60" across it is a true circle rather than a squared-off oval, which matters more than it sounds: a weaver has to change the knot count on almost every row to close a curve that reads as round from every angle. The silk pile is cut low so the drawing stays crisp, and the surface shifts from pale to deep as you walk around it, which is the honest tell of a silk rug rather than a mercerized cotton imitation.

Design and Motifs

The whole field is organized around one bold floral medallion that fills the circle, a composition drawn from the classical Esfahan repertoire. It starts at a tiny rosette in the dead center, spreads into a sunburst of fine teardrop spokes, then opens into a ring of alternating lancet petals: copper petals packed with curling arabesque, and ivory petals filled with teal and black scrollwork that read almost like miniature shields. Behind the petals the slate field is covered edge to edge with hair-thin vine work, and a scalloped cream surround carries dense floral tracery that softens the jump from field to border. Sage guard stripes step the eye outward to the wide dark main border, where large copper boteh figures ride on continuous scrolling arabesque, and a final ivory band of small rosettes runs right out to the silk fringe.

Color: Charcoal, Copper and Soft Blue

Charcoal grey is what sets the tone, concentrated in the broad main border where the ground goes nearly black and lets the copper boteh glow against it. The field inside reads as a softer grey with a blue cast, closer to slate or pewter depending on the light, and it is what keeps a busy design calm. Copper and warm apricot do the structural work in the petals and the border scrolls, while cream and ivory open up the scalloped surround and the outer rosette band. Look closely and you find the small accents that make the palette interesting: sage green in the guard stripes, deep teal in the ivory petals, plum and burgundy in the vine tips, and an occasional saffron dot at the tip of a leaf. Because the pile is silk, all of these colors change value as the light moves, so the grey can look cool from one side of the room and warm from the other.

Origin and Weaving Quality

This piece was hand-knotted in China, where the best silk workshops have spent decades building a reputation for very high knot counts and precise curved drawing, and it is sold here as exactly that: a fine Chinese silk Oriental rug, not something dressed up as anything else. The close-up photographs show why the knot count matters here, since the hair-thin vines behind the medallion and the outlines inside each petal simply cannot be drawn at a coarse gauge. The back is tight and even, the fringe is the natural continuation of the warps rather than a sewn-on addition, and the selvage follows the curve cleanly the whole way around. Condition is perfect and the rug has never been used, so the full pile height and the original silk luster are still intact.