7'9" x 9'9" Wool and Silk Oriental Rug | Mahi Tabriz Design | Black Field, Brand New

Pick this one up and the first thing you notice is weight in the hand and no coarseness in the back: a cotton foundation carrying a fine wool and silk pile, clipped low so the drawing stays crisp. At 7'9" x 9'9" it sits squarely in the 8x10 area rug range that most living rooms and formal dining rooms are built around, and it has never been on a floor. The design is Mahi Tabriz, the diamond fish lattice that demands an even knot count across the whole field, because any drift in tension shows immediately in a repeat that fine. Every rug we ship leaves Freeport with a certificate of authenticity confirming that it is hand-knotted, along with its materials, size and origin.

Design and Motifs

The field is a continuous herati lattice, known as mahi or fish: small diamonds outlined in rust, each holding an 8 petal rosette, with paired curved sickle leaves turning outward at every junction so the repeat reads like scales across the black ground. At the center sits a layered oval medallion in 3 tiers, a beige inner cartouche inside a rose ring inside a scalloped salmon surround, with a small palmette pendant reaching top and bottom into the field. Broad cusped spandrels in beige occupy the 4 corners and carry their own miniature lattice and sprays of flowers. The main border returns to black and runs a vine of palmettes alternating with beige lozenge cartouches, framed inside and out by narrow guard stripes of tulip buds and paisley forms on cream. Close-ups show the outlines drawn in single knot lines, which is only possible at this level of fineness.

A Black Ground With Beige, Olive and Rust

The ground is a true deep black, not a navy reading as black, and it does the work of making every other color look lit from within. Against it the lattice rosettes come in rust, brick red, warm gold and soft olive green, with cream and pale peach florals scattered through so the field never goes flat. The medallion and spandrels shift into the warm side of the palette: salmon pink, tea beige, sand and ivory, with slivers of grey blue in the leaf tips that cool the whole thing down just enough. Rust outlines carry the lattice and the border stripes, while deeper red accents punctuate the guard bands. The silk highlights sit mostly in the lighter motifs, so as you walk around the rug the beige and rose areas brighten and dim while the black field holds steady. In practical terms this is a dark rug that behaves like a light one, and it will take charcoal, camel, brass and walnut furniture without argument.

Made in India: Contemporary Hand-Knotted Weaving at Its Best

This rug was hand-knotted in India, and that is a point in its favor rather than a concession. India is where most of the world's best contemporary hand-knotted work is now produced, with workshops running fine wool and silk pile on cotton foundations at knot counts that classic village weaving never attempted. Judging any Oriental rug comes down to the same things here: how straight the sides run, how even the lattice stays over 9'9" of length, whether the curved lines in the medallion actually curve. On this piece the selvages are tight and hand-finished, the fringe is full and evenly cut, the back shows small regular knots with no slack rows, and the low clip keeps the fish pattern legible from standing height. It is a brand new piece in perfect condition, woven to a drawing that has been the benchmark for fine floral weaving for well over a century.