6'8" x 9'8" Indian Tabriz Mahi Design Rug | Ruby Red Wool & Silk | Herati Fish Pattern

This 6'8" x 9'8" rug is new, never used, and hand-knotted in the Tabriz Mahi layout, the fish pattern drawing that has become one of the most collected formulas in the hand-knotted Oriental rug market. The pile is wool with silk worked into the medallion, pendants and spandrels, which is why the ivory areas catch light at a different angle than the red ground around them. Laid out on the floor it reads as a true room-size piece, close to the familiar 7 x 10 rugs that anchor a seating group or sit under a six chair table with the chairs pulled back. Handle is firm and even, the fringe is clean and hand-tied, the selvages are tight, and the piece ships with our certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The whole field is filled with the herati, or mahi, lattice: small diamonds outlined in black, each one holding a rosette, with curved lanceolate leaves turning away from the corners so the repeat reads as stylized fish circling a flower. That repeat is drawn small and counted tightly here, which is the test of a Mahi weaver, because any slip in the count shows immediately across a 9'8" length. At the center sits a scalloped lobed medallion built in 3 layers, each layer ringed by a fine salmon outline, with a small quatrefoil at the core. Slender pendants run off the medallion at top and bottom, and matching lobed cartouches float to the left and right. The corner pieces sweep in to form one enormous scalloped frame around the red ground. The main border is an ivory band of alternating round rosettes and green centered palmettes joined by curling vine, flanked by narrow red and ivory guard stripes and an outer meander of small flowers.

A Ruby Red Ground With Ivory, Olive and Black

The field is a deep ruby red, closer to a clean jewel red than to brick or rust, and it stays consistent from end to end with no visible abrash. Against it the herati knots come through in ivory, cream, pale salmon, olive and soft sage, each diamond fenced in black so the pattern keeps its crispness instead of blurring into the red. The medallion and the spandrels shift to ivory and warm beige with olive and dark green shading through the inner rings, and the silk content gives those passages a faint sheen next to the matte wool of the ground. The main border is a bright ivory that frames the red firmly, picking up green palmette centers, red rosette hearts and touches of caramel. In the pile close-ups you can also see small blue-gray and pale gold knots that lift the palette without changing its overall red and ivory character. Practically, this is a forgiving color scheme, warm under lamplight and easy to build around with cream, walnut, brass or black.

Made in India in the Mahi Weaving Tradition

This rug was woven in India, which is now where most of the world's best contemporary hand-knotted work is produced, and we say that with no hedging. The workshops there weave from the same classical cartoons, keep the knot count high, spin their own wool and buy real silk for highlights, and they build on a cotton foundation the same way the old town workshops did. What you get in a piece like this is a dense, level pile, straight sides, square corners and a small scale repeat held accurately over 9'8", the kind of execution that used to be much harder to find at this price. For buyers comparing traditional medallion designs across our stock of hand-knotted Oriental rugs, the Mahi field is the one that hides everyday traffic best, because the busy lattice breaks up footprints and shading. Perfect condition, never walked on, ready to unroll.