7'9" x 12'1" Persian Tabriz Design Rug | Red Field, Ivory Floral Border | Excellent Condition

This hand-knotted Persian rug measures 7'9" x 12'1" and reads as one complete composition rather than a field with a border stuck around it. A tomato red ground carries an ivory leaf and vine lattice from end to end, a lobed medallion in blue and cream sits dead center, and the wide ivory surround breaks into scalloped cartouches that press inward over the field. Two small woven cartouches sit above and below the medallion on the vertical axis. The wool pile has kept its luster, the condition is excellent, and the weave on the reverse is even and tight, as photo 6 shows. It is a genuinely usable scale among large Persian rugs, and it ships with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The center is a stepped, many lobed medallion built in layers: a small red core filled with curling vine, a ring of blue and ivory arabesque, then a cream halo edged with a ring of large blue and pink palmettes that radiate outward like petals. Pendants in navy and gold drop from the top and bottom of the medallion, each ending in a tiny cartouche. Across the rest of the field, an endless repeat of ivory serrated leaves and five lobed blossoms rides thin gray green vine work, so the red never sits empty. The ivory surround is drawn in scalloped sections of acanthus, lotus palmettes and dark navy flowerheads, with 4 corners resolved by large cream spandrels. A narrow red outer guard band of small sprigs finishes the edge.

Color: Tomato Red, Cream and Layered Blues

The field is a clear tomato red with a faint rose cast where the light catches the pile, warmer and less brown than the deep madder you see in many red Persian rugs. Against it the ivory floral lattice reads almost white in the open areas and softens to cream where it meets the border. Blue appears in at least 3 values: a mid denim blue outlining the field and the medallion halo, a lighter sky blue inside the radiating palmettes, and a near black navy in the border flowerheads and the pendant cartouches. Olive and antique gold fill the border leaves, and small notes of soft pink and dusty rose sit inside the palmettes and rosettes, which is what keeps the red and blue from reading as a hard two color scheme. The close detail photos show those pinks most clearly.

Origin and Weaving Quality

The rug was woven in Persia to a classic city workshop drawing associated with Persian Tabriz rugs: a curvilinear medallion, scalloped cartouche border and continuous vine field of the kind that only works when the weaver has enough knots to hold a true curve. The cotton foundation gives the rug its flat, stable lie, and the wool pile has the slight sheen of good highland fleece. On the reverse the knot rows are regular and the pattern is legible stitch by stitch, the mark of a cartoon followed carefully rather than woven from memory. Floral drawing this tight at 12 feet of length means the weavers held the same density for the full run of the rug, border to border and corner to corner.