8'3" x 11'2" Persian Tabriz Mahi Rug | Rust Red Herati Field | Signed Cartouche

This is a Mahi, the herati fish pattern that Tabriz weavers use to show what their looms can actually do, and it is drawn here at a scale that only a trained workshop attempts. From standing height the field reads as a warm rust red oval floating inside a sage and charcoal ground; step closer and that red dissolves into thousands of minute rosettes, each one framed by the paired lancet leaves that give the pattern its fish name. At 8'3" x 11'2" it sits squarely in the most usable of the 8 x 11 Persian rug proportions, large enough to carry a full seating group without crowding the walls. A woven cartouche in the lower border marks it as a signed workshop piece rather than anonymous market goods, and the pile is full and even end to end with no wear, no repair and no restoration. It ships with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The composition is built in concentric shells. At the center sits a layered oval medallion, its core a deep sage lozenge ringed by scalloped ivory lace, then a second scalloped band, then a fine outlined rim that steps out toward the field. A slim finial pendant rises from the top of the medallion and a matching one drops below, both tipped with the same cloud collar profile repeated in the 4 corner pieces. Around all of this the great scalloped cartouche of the field sweeps outward in tiny lobes, separating the rust red interior from the grey green surround so cleanly that the pattern inside never breaks stride. The herati repeat runs continuously under medallion, pendants and corners alike, which is the mark of a cartoon drawn properly rather than patched together. The main border carries alternating palmettes and 8 petal rosettes on an ivory ground, linked by curling vinework, and it is fenced by no fewer than 5 guard stripes on each side in rose, ivory and soft mocha, each one carrying its own miniature meander.

The Rust Red and Sage Palette

The dominant note is rust red, but it is a quiet one: a brick terracotta softened toward dusty rose by the ivory and charcoal knots that sit beside it in every square inch of the herati grid. Where the field escapes the central oval it shifts to a smoky sage green, cool enough to read almost grey in daylight, and that green returns in the medallion core, the corner cartouches and the outlines of the scalloped shells. The main border is a clean ivory that lifts the whole piece, planted with palmettes in wine red, olive, taupe and pale blush, with occasional flickers of powder blue in the small florets. Rose pink runs through the outer guard stripe and across the panel that holds the signature, tying the border back to the field. Nothing in the palette is loud, which is exactly why a rug like this settles easily against oak floors, walnut furniture, cream plaster or grey upholstery.

Woven in Tabriz, Northwest Persia

Tabriz has been the commercial and technical capital of Persian weaving for centuries, and its workshops are judged by the Raj system, the number of knots counted across a gereh of roughly 2.75 in of width. A Mahi in this scale of drawing belongs to the fine end of that scale: the rosettes are small enough that the pattern stays legible at arm's length, the curved outlines of the medallion hold their line without stair stepping, and the cotton foundation is beaten tight so the rug lies flat and dead straight on the floor. Tabriz weavers work with a hook ended knife and the Turkish symmetrical knot, which is part of why these pieces wear so slowly and hold their shape under furniture. The signature panel confirms the loom it came off, and a signed Mahi in excellent, unworn condition at this size is the piece collectors wait for rather than the one they trip over.