8'1" x 9'3" Persian Heriz Rug | Geometric Medallion | Deep Red, Excellent Condition

This is a classic village Heriz in an unusually useful shape: at 8'1" x 9'3" it reads almost square on the floor, which suits rooms where a standard 8x10 runs long against the walls. The pile is 3/8" wool on a cotton foundation, hand-knotted with the heavy, honest handle Heriz weavers are known for, and the drawing is pure Heriz: one large stepped medallion floating on a saturated red field, ivory corner spandrels, and a navy border that frames the whole thing without crowding it. The wool has the slight color movement across the field that only comes from small dye lots and hand spinning, and the back shows clean, even rows with no repairs or reweaves. Condition is excellent, with full even pile edge to edge. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The center holds a stepped, many pointed medallion built up in navy, sky blue, rose and ivory, with a small hooked rosette at its core and two anchor pendants running top and bottom. Around it the red field is packed with the angular vinework and broad serrated leaves that give Heriz its architecture: every curve is resolved into straight lines and right angle steps, so the drawing stays crisp instead of soft. The 4 corners carry ivory spandrels drawn with the same angular leaf and blossom vocabulary, and the main border alternates navy turtle palmettes with red cartouches and 8 petal rosettes, flanked by narrow reciprocal guard stripes. If you like this kind of drawing, it sits squarely in the family of geometric Persian rugs that read strongly from across a room.

A Deep Red Field with Navy, Ivory and Sky Blue

The field is a deep madder red that shifts between brick and wine depending on the light, and the close-up photos show that subtle abrash clearly across the open ground. Against it, the medallion and the main border go dark navy, almost inky where the pile is densest, while sky blue does the mid-tone work inside the medallion arms and the corner devices. Ivory is used as an outline color and as the ground of the 4 spandrels, which is what keeps the design legible rather than muddy, and pale rose, soft brown and a hint of olive turn up in the smaller leaves and rosettes. Overall it reads as a warm red rug with cool blue structure, easy to live with against oak, walnut or a pale stone floor, and it sits comfortably in the red and burgundy family without going orange.

Heriz: Village Weaving East of Tabriz

Heriz is a cluster of villages east of Tabriz, on the slopes below Mount Sabalan, and its reputation comes from two things. The first is the water, which is mineral rich and reputedly hardens the local fleece so the wool takes dye deeply and resists abrasion for generations. The second is the drawing method: Heriz weavers work from memory and small scale cartoons rather than a full knot by knot map, which is why the curved court idiom of the city workshops gets translated into bold steps and straight lines here. This piece shows that village hand honestly, with a thick 3/8" pile, a sturdy cotton foundation and the slightly irregular outlines that tell you a person, not a chart, set the medallion. It is the kind of weave that gets walked on for 50 years and looks better for it.