6'4" x 9'4" Persian Heriz Rug | Red | Rectangular

A hand-knotted Persian rug measuring 6'4" x 9'4", drawn in the angular Heriz manner: a red field carrying one large stepped medallion, ivory spandrels filling all four corners, and a dark navy main border around the whole. It is a rectangular piece with a dense, level pile and plain white fringe at both ends, and the table records its condition as excellent. Among our hand-knotted stock it sits in the 6x9 to 8x10 range, long enough for a dining table or a hallway run.

The design

The medallion at the centre is built from straight segments rather than curves: an ivory eight-lobed core holding small hooked flowerheads, ringed by a sky blue outline that steps out into eight points, with dark navy lobes carrying pink and brown palmettes set between them. A tall navy pendant runs off each end towards the ends of the field, each one tipped with a pale leaf. The red ground around it is filled edge to edge with small angular vines, hooked leaves, rosettes and bent-arm serrations in blue, ivory and brown. The ivory corner spandrels repeat the same vocabulary at a larger scale, their edges cut in sharp steps. The main border alternates broad palmettes and rosettes on navy, with a camel-brown guard stripe of small lozenges on either side and a narrow reciprocal line at the outer edge.

The colour

The field is a madder red that reads closer to brick in the raking light of the floor shots and towards rose where the pile lies away from the camera. Against it the medallion outline is a clear sky blue, lighter and cooler than the near-black navy of the border and the pendants, so the drawing separates cleanly at a distance. Ivory carries the corners and the small vine work, camel brown runs through the guard stripes, and there are repeated touches of soft salmon and faded pink inside the medallion lobes, with a little olive and dark green scattered through the field flowers.

The making

Knotted entirely by hand in Persia, in the Heriz district of the north west, on a foundation that leaves the ends in plain undyed fringe. The close photograph of the end border shows the knot scale against a tape measure: a sturdy, moderately coarse weave with a thick pile, which is what gives a Heriz its weight and its reputation for standing up to traffic. The corner photograph shows the border drawing holding its line through the turn and the selvedge intact.