6'7" x 10' Persian Tabriz Rug | Black Mahi Herati All-Over Design | Wool & Silk Pile

This is a black ground Tabriz woven in the Mahi Herati tradition, one of the most disciplined patterns in the Persian repertoire and the one Tabriz is judged by. The pile is wool with silk worked into the highlights, which is why the small rosettes and leaf tips catch the light while the black ground stays matte and deep. At 6'7" x 10' it sits squarely in the 7x10 Persian rug range, the size most buyers want under a sofa group or a six seat table. Woven in the 2000's and never used, the pile is full, the ends and sides are original, and the rug ships with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

Mahi means fish, and the Herati motif gets that nickname from the 4 curved lanceolate leaves that swim around each rosette inside a diamond. Here the all-over Herati field runs unbroken from end to end with no medallion, a fine salmon lattice locking every diamond to the next and an 8 petal rosette set at each junction. Between the rosettes sit small star flowers, budding sprigs and tiny paired leaves, so the repeat reads as dense embroidery rather than a stamped grid. The main border carries a rust ground with alternating dark cartouche palmettes and open flowerheads joined by a thin scrolling vine, and it is framed on both sides by ivory guard stripes of reciprocal rosettes. The corners are resolved cleanly, with the border drawing turning the angle without breaking the rhythm, which is the mark of a properly cartooned Tabriz.

Color: Black Ground with Rust, Teal and Ivory

The field is a true black, closer to ink than to charcoal, and against it the pattern reads in warm terracotta and salmon, soft cream, deep bottle green and a clear teal blue that appears in the fish leaves and the small star centers. Plum and midnight tones fill the rosette hearts, so the field has depth rather than one flat contrast. The main border swings the temperature warm with a brick rust ground, cream and blush flowerheads and green foliage, while the ivory guard stripes give the whole thing a bright outline and keep the black from closing in. In daylight the silk highlights lift the salmon and cream to a light gold cast; under lamps the black deepens and the rust border does the work. It is a dark rug that behaves well on pale oak, as the parquet photographs show.

Tabriz Weaving in Northwest Persia

Tabriz sits in the northwest of Persia and has been the country's most organized weaving city for centuries, working from drawn cartoons on cotton warps with the knot count measured in Raj, the number of knots per gereh across the width. The Mahi Herati is the house pattern of that city, and it is unforgiving: every diamond has to close on the same count, so a loose weaver is exposed immediately. This piece holds its lattice straight across a full 79 inch width, the pile is clipped low so the small motifs stay legible, and the wool and silk blend gives the surface the slight sheen Tabriz workshops aim for. The ivory fringe is hand tied from the cotton warps, and the selvages are wrapped in dark wool, both original to the loom.