8'3" x 11'6" Wool and Silk Mahi Tabriz Rug | Beige Herati Field | Brand New

This 8'3" x 11'6" rug is a high quality contemporary piece, hand-knotted in wool with silk accents on a cotton foundation and finished in the classic Mahi Tabriz drawing. The pile is dense and low, the drawing is small in scale and disciplined across the whole field, and the silk catches light along the medallion outline and the vine work so the surface shifts as you walk past it. It has never been used and arrives in perfect condition, with the original weaver tag still attached and a certificate of authenticity supplied with every purchase. At roughly 96 square feet it anchors a full seating group or a 8 seat dining table without crowding the room.

Design and Motifs

Mahi means fish, and the name comes from the small diamond cells that fill the field, each holding a rosette flanked by 4 lancet leaves that read as fish circling a pond. Here that lattice runs edge to edge in perfect repeat, uninterrupted by open ground, which is the hardest version of the pattern to hold straight over 11'6" of length. A large scalloped medallion sits dead center, outlined in camel and fitted with a smaller inner cartouche of navy and white rosettes, with a pointed pendant at each end and matching quarter medallions cut into the 4 corners. The main border carries alternating rosettes and curled palmettes on an ivory ground, joined by a red vine, and it is framed by 6 narrow guard stripes of reciprocal trefoils, running flowers and a fine barber pole stripe. The corners resolve cleanly, which is the first thing to check on any all over Herati drawing.

A Beige, Brown, Olive and Rust Palette

The ground is a warm ivory beige that photographs as soft cream in daylight and as a deeper sand under lamplight. Over it the lattice is drawn in rust and brick red, with camel and tobacco brown filling the diamond centers, olive and soft sage in the leaves, and small hits of slate blue, deep navy and near black that give the pattern its depth at a distance. The medallion shifts toward camel and gold with white rosette centers, while the main border goes lighter, an ivory field with muted grey green, dusty rose and clay red. There is no single loud color in the rug, which is exactly why it settles so easily against brown, grey or burgundy upholstery and dark hardwood, as the room photograph shows. The silk in the pile sits mainly in the lighter tones, so the beige and camel passages read brighter and slightly glossier than the wool around them.

Origin and Weaving Quality

This rug was made in India, and the weaver tag on the back states it plainly along with the Mahi design name and the 8'3 x 11'6 measurement. India is where most of the world's best contemporary hand-knotted work is now produced, with workshops that train on the historic Tabriz repertoire and weave it at a knot count fine enough to carry the small Mahi cells without blurring them. The back shown in the fold photograph is tight and even, the knot rows are straight, and the pile has been clipped low so every rosette holds its outline. If you are comparing this piece against city weaves from other countries, the differences in structure and terminology are worth reading about in our guide to the Oriental rug category, and the sheen in this pile comes from the blend covered in our wool and silk rugs collection.