8'1" x 11'6" Persian Kashan Rug | Ivory Floral Field | Signed Border Cartouche | Excellent Condition

Most Kashans arrive in deep madder red. This one does not, and that is the whole point of it. The 8'1" x 11'6" field is ivory, almost chalk white where the light catches the pile, and the entire classical vocabulary of Persian Kashan rugs has been redrawn on it in soft taupe, slate blue and a scattering of brick red. It is hand-knotted on a cotton foundation with a 3/8" wool pile, the weaver signed the upper guard border with a small woven cartouche, and the condition is excellent with full even pile from end to end. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity recording origin, materials and measurements.

Design and Motifs

The center holds a layered medallion built outward in rings: a light blue 8 petal rosette at the core, a white lobed cartouche around it, then a taupe star with pointed tips that throw pendants north and south. Around that the field is not empty but packed, an all-over lattice of curved vine scroll carrying palmettes, serrated leaves and small paired rosettes, each one drawn cleanly enough that you can read individual petals at arm's length. The 4 corner spandrels repeat the taupe ground of the medallion so the composition reads as one balanced design rather than a motif dropped on a blank field. The main border runs a taupe ground with alternating palmette and floral cluster, flanked by narrow light blue guard stripes and a fine reciprocal outer stripe, with the signature cartouche set discreetly into the top border.

A Neutral Palette With Real Color Inside It

From across a room this rug reads as ivory and warm greige, which is exactly why it works under furniture that already has a lot going on. Up close it is far busier than that. The vine work is drawn in a soft mushroom brown, the flower heads alternate between powder blue and a deeper indigo, and small points of brick red, rust and olive appear at the centers of the rosettes, enough to keep the surface alive without ever becoming a red rug. The medallion and spandrels sit a shade darker than the field in a dusty taupe that carries a faint lavender cast under daylight. The guard borders lift the blue register slightly, giving the outer frame a cooler tone than the center, and the ivory selvage and fringe close it off cleanly.

Kashan: Central Persia and Its Court Tradition

Kashan sits in central Persia, north of Isfahan, and its looms trace back to the Safavid court workshops that set the standard for classical Persian drawing. The town has two lasting advantages: soft lustrous local wool that takes dye beautifully and holds a low even pile, and a workshop discipline that keeps the curved line accurate over a rug this size. You already know the look even if you have never named it, because when you watch Shark Tank there is a Persian Kashan on the floor. The back, shown here against a ruler, is tight and regular with clear knot definition and no slack rows, and the weaver's signed cartouche marks it as a workshop piece rather than anonymous village work.