7' x 10'3" Persian Bijar Rug | Navy Blue All-Over Floral Panel Design | 1990s Wool

This is a heavy, tightly packed Kurdish weaving from the 1990s, the kind of piece that explains why collectors call Bijar rugs the iron rugs of Persia. The wool pile is clipped low at 3/8", the handle is stiff and board-like, and the rug lies dead flat on the floor with no ripple at the ends. At 7' x 10'3" it sits right in the most useful range of 7x10 Persian rugs, large enough to carry a full seating group yet still workable in a normal room. Condition is excellent with full pile edge to edge and clean, even selvages, and the rug ships with our certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The field is an all-over repeat rather than a medallion layout. Long cream-outlined panels, drawn with stepped shoulders and small lozenge finials, march across the navy ground in clusters of 3 and in single verticals, and between them the weaver has filled every inch with flowering plants: upright sprays of red blossoms, tulip and carnation heads, open rosettes, and small leafy shrubs rising from thin stems. Look closely at the detail photograph and you can read the drawing, with each flower outlined in a second color so the motif reads sharply against the dark ground. The main border runs on a coral ground with large palmettes and curling acanthus leaves set in mirrored pairs, and it is framed on both sides by narrow light blue guard stripes carrying a running vine. Two additional ivory and navy minor stripes tighten the whole composition, and the corners resolve cleanly in all 4 corners, which is always a sign of careful cartoon work.

A Navy Field Against Coral and Cream

The main color is a deep midnight navy blue, dark enough in the corners to read almost black and opening up under direct light to show the indigo underneath. Against it the coral border is the loudest note in the rug, a warm salmon pink that carries the whole outer frame and repeats in the pale outlines of the field panels. The flowers supply the rest: tomato red blossoms, cream and ivory rosettes, a clear light blue in the petals and guard stripes, olive and sage green leaves, and a soft brown that runs through the stems and some of the larger palmette heads. It is a dark rug with a warm face, and the coral keeps it from ever feeling heavy. Under warm lamplight the pink border reads closer to terracotta, while daylight pushes it toward true coral.

Bijar, the Kurdish Weaving Town of Northwest Persia

Bijar sits in the Garrus district of Kurdistan in northwest Persia, and its weavers work on a wetted warp, beating each row down with a heavy metal comb so that the knots lock together permanently. That single technique is what produces the famous density and near indestructible body of a Bijar, and it is why these rugs outlive the houses they are bought for. The surrounding district also produces distinct sub-types, and the differences between Bijar, Bijar Zanjan, Bijar Tekab and Bijar Bukan are worth understanding before you buy. This example is a town weaving with cotton foundation and a low, hard-wearing wool pile, drawn with the floral precision of a workshop piece rather than the looser hand of a village rug.