8'2" x 11'10" Persian Kashan Rug | Ivory Floral Field with Medallion | Signed Cartouche | Excellent Condition

This 8'2" x 11'10" piece is town work of the kind buyers come to a Persian Kashan rug for: an ivory ground drawn edge to edge with flowering vine, a soft chestnut brown main border, and a woven signature cartouche set into the inner border, which tells you a named workshop stood behind it rather than an anonymous commission. The pile is 3/8" wool on a cotton foundation, full and level right across the field with no thin areas at the ends, and the back shows a tight, even knot line that has not shifted over the length of the weave. Condition is excellent. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity that records origin, materials and measurements, so the paperwork matches what is on the floor.

Design and Motifs

The field reads two ways at once. Look closely and it is a continuous all-over of curling vine, serrated leaves, palmettes and rosettes, each blossom outlined in dark navy so the drawing stays crisp against the pale ground. Step back and a large lobed medallion emerges from that same vine work, rendered in a tonal chestnut and taupe shading rather than a hard outline, with a small 8 petal rosette at the dead center and paired arabesque scrolls radiating out through the lobes. The same tonal shading fills the 4 corners, echoing the medallion without cutting the field apart. The border scheme runs 3 deep: a wide chestnut main band carrying alternating palmettes and rosettes on a slow vine, framed inside and out by ivory guard stripes of tiny leaf-and-blossom scroll, with narrow pale blue reciprocal lines separating them. Both ends finish in plain woven kilim and the original fringe.

A Quiet Ivory and Chestnut Brown Palette

The ground is a warm ivory, closer to unbleached wool than to white, and it carries a soft sheen where the light crosses the pile. Against it the main border sits in chestnut brown that dries to a mushroom taupe in full sun, and the medallion and corner shading pick up that same tone so the whole rug holds together as a neutral. The accent colors are used sparingly and all the better for it: deep wine and brick red in the heart of the larger rosettes, dark navy for outlines and the small flower heads, olive and moss green in the leaves, pale sky blue in the guard stripes, and touches of camel and soft apricot in the palmettes. There is no single loud color anywhere, which is what makes this one of the easier ivory and beige Persian rugs to live with under existing furniture.

Kashan Origin and Weaving Quality

Kashan sits in central Persia, north of Isfahan, and its looms descend directly from the Safavid court workshops, which is why the town has always been judged on drawing and on wool rather than on novelty. The local fleece is soft and lustrous, and Kashan weavers knot it on a cotton warp at a density that lets a curved vine stay curved instead of breaking into steps. You can see that on the reverse of this rug, where the knot rows are small, straight and uniform, and in the field, where the fine navy outlines never wobble. The signed cartouche places it in the workshop tradition rather than village production. Kashan is also the design most people have seen without knowing its name: when you watch Shark Tank there is a Persian Kashan on the floor.