8'3" x 11'4" Mahi Tabriz Design Rug | Wool and Silk Herati Fish Pattern | Brand New

This 8'3" x 11'4" hand-knotted Oriental rug is worked in the Mahi Tabriz idiom, the fish pattern layout that has become the single most recognizable formal drawing in the trade. The pile is wool with silk drawn through the highlights, knotted onto a cotton foundation, and the piece is brand new and has never been on a floor. At just over 8 by 11 feet it settles into the standard 8x11 area rugs footprint, which means a sofa group or a 6 seat table sits fully on the rug rather than half on and half off. Every rug we ship leaves with a certificate of authenticity that records its size, materials, weave and origin.

Design and Motifs

The field carries a fine all-over Herati pattern, the lattice of diamonds, rosettes and curved lanceolate leaves that reads as fish circling a blossom and gives the mahi design its name. A large lobed medallion sits dead center on a black ground, filled with a 4 lobed floral cluster around a single rosette, and it floats on an ivory inner field that is itself covered in miniature herati repeats. Slender pendants extend above and below the medallion into small cream cartouches, and the 4 corners are closed with dark spandrels drawn in the same lattice, so the geometry of the layout stays legible from across the room. The main border is a broad ivory band of scrolling palmettes and split leaves, framed by two narrower guard stripes of linked rosettes on beige, and the outer selvedge is finished in solid red with an ivory warp fringe at both ends.

A Ruby Red Field with Ivory, Olive and Rust

The dominant color is a deep ruby red, warm rather than orange, and because the herati lattice is drawn in black, olive green, cream and pale blue over that ground, the field reads as a rich textured burgundy from a standing height and opens into visible detail up close. The ivory inner field and the ivory main border supply the contrast that keeps a dark red rug from feeling heavy, while the black medallion ground and black corner spandrels anchor the four corners and the center. Rust, soft rose and camel appear in the palmettes and leaf forms, with small touches of olive green and slate blue scattered through the border vines. The silk in the pile catches light along the medallion and the border scrolls, so the rug shifts slightly in tone as you walk around it, lighter from one end and deeper from the other.

Woven in India in the Mahi Tabriz Tradition

This rug was made in India, which is where most of the world's best contemporary hand-knotted work is now produced, and it shows in the drawing. The herati repeat holds its scale from end to end without drifting, the medallion outline curves cleanly instead of stepping, and the border corners resolve properly rather than being cut off, all of which take a high knot count and a weaver working from a careful cartoon. The back, visible in the fold photographs, is tight and even, and the pile is clipped low so the fine detail stays crisp. Among hand-knotted Oriental rugs in this size and price range, a wool and silk mahi of this drawing quality is the practical choice for a formal room that has to take daily traffic.