6'6" x 9'9" Persian Nain Rug | Wool and Silk | Navy and Ivory

A rectangular rug of 6'6" x 9'9", hand-knotted in Persia in wool and silk. The field is a very dark navy blue, close to black away from direct light, carrying a single round medallion and a dense floral net, and it is framed by a broad ivory border. The pile is short and even, and the rug is recent and unused.

The design

The Nain drawing here is the classic round medallion type. At the centre sits an ivory disc built up in rings: an eight-point star at its core, a band of small blossoms, then a ruff of pointed lobes and teardrops, the whole outlined in dark brown. Around it the navy field is filled edge to edge with curling vinework, split palmettes, serrated leaves and small four-petal blossoms, all mirrored across both axes, with a few small pale blue squares set near the field corners. The main border runs an ivory ground with a scrolling vine and rosettes, and it is held between narrow guard stripes of small floral sprigs on a fawn ground, with a fine barber-pole stripe closest to the fringe.

The colour

Two blues do most of the work: the near-black indigo of the ground and a clear mid sky blue used for the tendrils, the petals in the medallion and the sprigs in the guard bands. Against them the ivory of the flowers and the border reads warm rather than white. A soft fawn brown fills the narrow inner bands and touches some of the leaves, and a darker chocolate brown outlines the blossoms and the medallion, which keeps the pale drawing from dissolving into the navy.

The making

This is a hand-knotted rug from Persia, with a pile of wool and silk. The silk shows in the outlines and in parts of the medallion, where the same ivory catches light differently from the wool beside it, and the close-up photographs show how finely the vine stems are drawn. The table records the rug as recent and unused, in perfect condition, with plain ivory fringes at both ends.