8'1" x 10'10" Persian Kashan Rug | Warm Grey Allover Floral Field | Signed Cartouche

A signed workshop piece from central Persia, this 8'1" x 10'10" Kashan sets a continuous floral field across a warm grey ground, with no central medallion anywhere in the drawing. The weaver signed it in a small cartouche woven into the end border, which is how Kashan workshops marked the pieces they were willing to stand behind. The pile is 3/8" wool on a cotton foundation, cropped evenly and still full, and the condition is excellent. Read more about the town and its formulas in our guide to Persian Kashan rugs, and see the rest of our 8x11 Persian rugs for comparison. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The field is an allover floral, mirrored on both axes but never mechanical: thin vine scrolls travel the full 10'10" length and throw off palmettes, split leaves, lotus blossoms and small 8 petal rosettes at every turn. Because there is no medallion, the eye keeps moving, which is exactly why this layout works under furniture where a centered design would be half hidden. Look closely at the detail shot and you will see how each palmette is outlined in a darker tone and filled with 2 or 3 secondary colors, so the flowers read as separate objects rather than a blur. The main border carries a repeating pattern of palmettes joined by curling stems, flanked by 2 narrow ivory guard stripes on each side, and the corners resolve cleanly with the border pattern turning properly instead of being cut off. The end border holds the woven signature cartouche.

A Warm Grey Field With Soft Blue and Sage Borders

The ground is a warm grey, pale enough to read as ivory in strong daylight and closer to a silvered cream under lamplight. Against it the drawing is worked in soft powder blue, a deeper cornflower blue, navy, sage green, olive, old gold, rust, a dusty rose and a dark aubergine that does most of the outlining. The main border shifts to a soft grey blue, a full step cooler than the field, which frames the pattern without adding weight, and the guard stripes run ivory with small flowerheads. Tiny points of clear red appear inside a handful of blossoms, a few per square foot, and they are what keep such a pale rug from going flat. This is a quiet palette rather than a classic red and navy Kashan, and it suits grey, greige, white and pale oak interiors where a saturated rug would take over the room.

Kashan: The Town and the Weave

Kashan sits in central Persia, north of Isfahan, and its weaving goes back to the Safavid court workshops. The town has 2 lasting advantages: soft, lustrous local wool that holds dye and gains sheen with use, and a workshop discipline that produces the even, symmetrical drawing you see here. The reverse of this rug shows small, regular knots in tidy rows with no slack or drift, which is what allows a curved vine to stay a curve rather than turning into a staircase. Kashan is also the Persian rug most Americans have already seen without knowing its name: when you watch Shark Tank there is a Persian Kashan on the floor. At 8'1" x 10'10" this one is a true room-size piece, heavy enough to lie flat without a pad fighting it, and built to be walked on for decades.