7'4" x 9'9" Persian Heriz Rug | Geometric Medallion | Semi-Antique Village Weave

This is a proper village Heriz, hand-knotted in wool on a cotton foundation and carrying the angular, confident drawing that made these rugs the most recognizable floor covering to come out of northwest Persia. At 7'4" x 9'9" it sits right in the most usable range for a main seating area, and the pile is still even from end to end with a good honest handle, the kind of surface that has been walked on lightly rather than stored away. The wool has taken on the faint sheen that only comes with age, and the reds have mellowed into a warm rose-brick rather than the hard tone of a new rug. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity documenting origin, materials and construction, so you know exactly what you own. You will find it among our 7x10 Persian rugs.

Design and Motifs

The field is organized around a single large geometric medallion built from stepped, hooked arms in ivory and navy, with a small square rosette at the dead center and a pair of long serrated pendants reaching toward each end of the rug. Around it the weaver has filled the field with the Heriz vocabulary drawn entirely in straight lines and sharp angles: broad palmettes, hooked leaves, forked serrated vine, small 8 petal rosettes and a scattering of tiny birds and combs that only show themselves on close inspection. The 4 corner spandrels repeat the medallion logic in reduced form and are set off by a camel outline that runs the full perimeter of the field. The main border carries alternating diamond cartouches and angular vine, framed by narrow rose guard stripes. Nothing here is a cartoon copied square by square, and the small asymmetries between top and bottom are the honest signature of a rug drawn from memory at the loom. Collectors who look for this kind of drawing will find more of it among our geometric Persian rugs.

A Red Field Framed in Deep Indigo

Red is the governing colour, but it is not one flat red. The ground moves between brick, rose and a softer terracotta as the light crosses the pile, the natural abrash of hand-dyed wool worked in small lots. Against it the main border reads almost black, an indigo navy so deep that the ivory diamonds and sky blue palmettes inside it appear to float. The medallion and the hooked leaves are picked out in clean ivory, which keeps the drawing legible from across a room. Secondary tones do the quiet work: a bright sky blue in the rosettes, a cooler teal in the border flowers, camel and olive in the outlines and vine, and a pale salmon that softens the junctions between red and navy. Small charcoal and dark brown accents give the angular shapes their edge. It is a warm, saturated palette that sits well with wood floors, leather and antique furniture, and it belongs squarely in the family of red and burgundy Persian rugs.

Heriz: The Villages East of Tabriz

Heriz is a group of weaving villages east of Tabriz, on the slopes below Mount Sabalan in northwest Persia. The mineral-rich water of the region is credited with producing wool of exceptional toughness, which is why these rugs have a reputation for outlasting the houses they were bought for. The weave is a village weave, not a workshop weave: the knot count stays moderate, the pile is left with some substance, and the design is executed in straight lines and stepped corners rather than the curved court drawing of Isfahan or Kashan. That is the point of a Heriz. The strength of the piece is in its bold geometry and the durability of its wool, not in fineness, and this example shows exactly that combination, with a firm dense handle, tight selvedges and even wool from one end to the other after decades of use.