6'8" x 9'11" Tabriz Mahi Design Oriental Rug | Black Herati Fish Field | Wool & Silk, Made in India

This is a brand new, never used hand-knotted rug measuring 6'8" x 9'11", woven in India in the classic Mahi Tabriz design with a wool and silk pile on a cotton foundation. The drawing is the real attraction: a tight all over herati field in black, broken only by a scalloped ivory medallion and two matching pendants, then framed by an ivory main border of rosettes and palmettes. The silk is used as highlight rather than ground, so the medallion outlines and the small flowerheads lift out of the wool and change tone as you walk around the room. As a true 7x10, it is a natural fit under a sofa and coffee table or a six seat dining table, and it is an easy answer for anyone searching for traditional 7x10 rugs with a dark field. Every rug we ship carries our certificate of authenticity confirming it is 100% hand-knotted.

Design and Motifs

The field is a continuous herati lattice, the pattern known as mahi, or fish, where each small diamond holds a rosette and is flanked by 4 curved lanceolate leaves that read like fish circling the flower. The repeat here is small and relentless, and that is the test of the weaver: every diamond lines up across almost 10 feet of length without drifting. At the center sits a cusped ivory medallion built from concentric scalloped lobes, with a camel and olive core rosette, and a matching pendant finial at each end on the long axis. A tonal spandrel in camel and soft rose fills the 4 corners, outlined by the same cloud like scalloping, so the field appears to open like a window. The border system runs 5 bands deep: a fine barber pole wrap at the outer edge, two narrow floral guards, a reciprocal zigzag stripe, and the ivory main border of 8 petal star rosettes alternating with red and sage cartouches linked by sinuous vinework. The outer edge is finished in black selvedge with plain ivory cotton fringe at both ends.

A Black Ground Lit With Ivory, Olive and Camel

The palette is built on contrast. The ground is black, and against it the herati detail is picked out in brick red, terracotta, olive green, pale sage, soft rose, camel and small flecks of bright ivory that function almost like stitching, giving the field its sparkle in the close up photographs. The medallion and spandrels swing the other way, reading as ivory and cream warmed by camel and dusty rose, with olive green outlining the lobes. The main border is cream to ivory, with the rosettes in rose, gold and powder blue and the cartouches in a deeper brick red with sage centers, and a thin olive guard stripe keeps the border from running into the field. Because the darks are genuinely dark and the lights are genuinely light, the rug anchors a room with pale walls and oak or walnut floors without needing any other pattern nearby, and the olive and rust accents give you an easy palette for upholstery, as the staged photograph with the rust armchair shows.

Hand-Knotted in India in the Mahi Tabriz Tradition

India is where most of the world's best contemporary hand-knotted weaving is now done, and this rug is a clear example of why. The mahi layout comes out of the Tabriz workshop tradition, where it was drawn on paper and woven at high knot counts, and the Indian ateliers that specialize in it work from the same cartoons with the same discipline: a fine cotton warp, a short even clip, and a knot count tight enough to hold the small herati diamonds crisply instead of blurring them. Turn to the back and the knot lines are straight and consistent, the sides are tightly overcast, and the handle is supple rather than stiff, which is what you want in a wool and silk pile that will be walked on. If you are weighing this against a village weave, the difference is drawing accuracy, and that is exactly where this piece earns its price. For how the terminology works across weaving countries, our guide on what separates a Persian rug from an Oriental rug is worth 5 minutes before you buy.