6'8" x 10' Persian Tabriz Mahi Rug | Wool and Silk Herati Fish Design | Brand New, Never Used

This is a classic Mahi Tabriz, hand-knotted in Persia in wool with silk accents, and it has never been on a floor. At 6'8" x 10' it sits right in the most usable 7x10 Persian rug range, large enough to carry a seating group with the front legs of the furniture on the pile. The drawing is tight and disciplined: a small lobed medallion floating in the middle of a deep brown field that reads almost black, with a fine Herati fish lattice running corner to corner behind it. The silk is used sparingly, in the outlines and small flowerheads, so it catches light as you walk past rather than shouting. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

Mahi means fish, and the name refers to the Herati motif that fills the field: a small diamond lattice with a rosette at each center and four curved lanceolate leaves turned around it like fish circling a pond. Here it is drawn very small and repeated across the entire ground as a true all-over pattern, which is the hardest version of this design to weave cleanly because every repeat has to line up over 10 feet of length. At the center sits a scalloped medallion with an ivory cartouche core and a small dark rosette inside it, ringed by a deep red lobed field and a pink outline, with matching pendant finials reaching toward each end. The four corner spandrels carry the same lattice in cream and beige, which inverts the field and makes the medallion read as if it is lit from behind. The main border is a black ground filled with turtle palmettes, rosettes and curling vine, framed by cream guard stripes of small rose flowerheads, and the whole layout resolves neatly at all 4 corners.

A Deep Brown Field With Red, Cream and Olive

The field is a dark chocolate brown that reads close to black from standing height and only opens up when you kneel to it. Against that ground the Herati lattice is picked out in cream, soft rose pink, rust orange, wine red, pale blue and olive green, so what looks like a single dark color from the doorway turns into dozens of small points of color up close. The medallion is a deep red, almost brick, cooled by a pink scalloped outline and an ivory heart. The spandrels are the lightest passage in the rug, a warm beige and cream that shades toward tan where the silk highlights sit. The border returns to black with olive, rose and ivory palmettes, and the outer guard stripes are ivory with raspberry pink flowers, which is what keeps the edges from disappearing against a dark floor. It is a warm and quiet palette that works with walnut furniture, leather, brass and dark wood floors.

Tabriz Weaving and Workshop Quality

Tabriz sits in northwest Persia and has been the commercial and artistic center of Persian weaving for centuries. Weavers there work on a cotton foundation with a hook-ended knife, and fineness is measured in Raj, the number of knots counted across a gereh of about 2.75 in of width. The Mahi layout is the signature Tabriz product, and it is the design dealers use to judge a workshop, because a coarse loom cannot hold the tiny fish lattice in register. On this piece the lattice stays crisp from one end to the other, the medallion outline is smooth rather than stepped, and the pile is clipped low so the drawing stays legible. Turn the rug over and the back shows the same pattern clearly, knot by knot, with a straight edge finish and hand-tied cotton fringe at both ends. Wool of this grade, woven this tightly and never walked on, is a rug that will still be handsome after several decades of daily use.