7'7" x 10'6" Persian Heriz Rug | Vintage Khaki Geometric Medallion | 1980s Low Pile

Woven in the Heriz district in the 1980s, this 7'7" x 10'6" Persian rug has aged into the quiet khaki and taupe register that is almost impossible to buy new. The wool is hand-knotted on a cotton foundation, the pile has worn low and evenly across the field, and the whole surface now reads as one soft, sunbaked neutral with the angular drawing still perfectly legible underneath. It is a forgiving floor piece for a room full of wood, leather and white walls, and it lands in the most usable of all 8x11 Persian rug sizes. Every rug we ship travels with a certificate of authenticity confirming its origin, age, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The field is built around a stepped diamond medallion with a hooked outline and an 8 point star rosette at its center, finished top and bottom with narrow pendants. Around it, a large diamond reserve fills the open field and the 4 corners carry heavy stepped spandrels packed with angular palmettes, serrated leaves, hooked vines and small rosettes. Every line is drawn straight or on the diagonal, which is the signature of true village work and the reason these geometric Persian rugs sit so comfortably with modern furniture. The main border alternates broad palmette cartouches with rosette panels, flanked by narrow guard stripes of running zigzag and small barbed diamonds, so the frame stays lively without competing with the medallion.

A Khaki, Taupe and Charcoal Palette

The field sits in a warm khaki that moves between oatmeal, sand and pale camel depending on the light, with faint horizontal banding where the weaver changed wool batches. Drawing is carried in cool taupe and a smoky gray brown, while the outer border deepens to charcoal brown so the rectangle is clearly framed from across the room. Ivory highlights pick out the star center, the small rosettes and the hooked outlines, and there are quieter passages of mushroom and pale gray where the pile has worn lowest. There is no red, no saffron and nothing bright anywhere in the palette, which is exactly why this rug works with white walls, pale upholstery, walnut and dark stained floors.

Heriz Origin and Village Weaving

Heriz is a cluster of weaving villages east of Tabriz in northwest Persia, on the slopes below Mount Sabalan, where mineral-rich water and hard mountain pasture produce a famously tough, high luster wool. Weavers there work from memory rather than a cartoon, which is why the drawing is angular, the medallion sits slightly asymmetrically and no two pieces repeat exactly. Knot counts in village Heriz work generally stay under 200 per square inch, and the trade-off is a heavy, robust rug that takes traffic for generations rather than a fine court weave. The thick wool, cotton foundation and flat-lying handle here are all consistent with 1980s production, and if you want to understand how weave, wool and wear are read together, our guide on how to date an Oriental rug walks through the same clues.