6'6" x 10'4" Persian Tabriz Rug | Wool and Silk | Rose and Navy

A hand-knotted Tabriz from Persia, 6'6" x 10'4" and rectangular, with a pile of wool and silk. At a glance it is a rose field carrying a dense floral tracery, closed by a deep navy main border and two pale guard stripes, with an inscription cartouche woven into the ivory end band.

The design

The field is built around a round eight-lobed medallion set on a soft mushroom-grey ground, with a stepped pendant above and below it and a quarter of the same medallion repeated in each corner spandrel. Around that the rose ground is filled edge to edge with thin vine work: open palmettes, small rosettes and clusters of three-petalled buds, with a few large curled paisley leaves outlined in navy set among them (image 8 shows one clearly). The main border runs a navy ground with alternating pink cartouches and split-leaf palmettes, flanked by taupe guard bands of pink roses and blue lilies, and an outer rose stripe of rosettes finishes the edge. At one end, inside the plain kilim finish, a small ivory cartouche carries a woven Persian inscription between two floral sprays.

The colour

The dominant note is a cool rose, strong and even across the whole field, close to cerise where the light strikes the pile directly and quieter in the shade. Against it the border sits in a dark indigo blue, almost black at the corners, which gives the pink its edge. The drawing inside both areas is carried in ivory and taupe, with rust, saffron yellow, madder red and several blues from pale sky to full navy. Leaves and small stems in a muted sage and bottle green run through the vine work and keep the pinks and blues from meeting flatly.

The making

Hand-knotted in Persia with a pile of wool and silk, the silk showing in the lighter details where it catches light differently to the surrounding wool. The reverse, seen in images 10 and 14, is close and regular, with the drawing legible knot for knot. The table records the rug as recent and unused, and its condition as perfect: full pile throughout, clean ivory fringes and undamaged side finishes. Among the hand-knotted rugs we carry, this one is unusual for the sheer saturation of its field.