8'3" x 11' Mahi Tabriz Design Rug | Wool & Silk Herati Field | Brand New, Made in India

This is a brand new, never used hand-knotted rug woven in India in the classic Mahi Tabriz idiom, measuring 8'3" x 11' on a cotton foundation with a wool and silk pile. The whole field is one continuous Herati fish lattice worked in beige, taupe and brown, interrupted only by a rust and camel lobed medallion, two matching pendants and four quiet corner spandrels. The silk sits in the small flower heads and outlines, so the drawing lifts and changes tone as you walk around it, which is exactly what you want in a piece this size. It is a true room-size rug that will cover a seating group or a dining table, and if you are shopping the 8 x 11 area rug range this one sits at the finer end of the drawing. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

Mahi means fish, and the name comes from the small lanceolate leaves that curve around each rosette inside the diamond lattice, read for generations as fish circling a pond. Here the repeat is tiny and unbroken, running corner to corner with no interruption in the rhythm, which is the hardest part of this pattern to weave correctly at scale. At the center sits a lobed 8 petal medallion in camel and rust, cored with a navy and red rosette and framed by an ivory outline that traces a wide shield shape into the field. Two slim pendants extend above and below it, each finished with a small floral finial, and 4 corner spandrels echo the same palmette drawing on a slightly darker ground. The main border is a bold ivory band of curling acanthus leaves, rust palmettes and olive vine, set between camel minor borders of alternating rosettes and a thin slate blue guard stripe on each side. Plain ivory kilim ends and hand-finished fringe close both ends.

A Warm Neutral Palette of Beige, Brown, Rust and Olive

The field reads as warm taupe brown from a standing height and resolves into beige, sand and soft cocoa once you are close to it, because the lattice is drawn in fine black and dark brown outlines over a pale ground. Inside each diamond are pinpricks of brick red, slate blue, olive green, ivory and a little mustard, small enough to behave as texture rather than as color. The medallion warms the center with camel, apricot and rust against a deeper brown ground, and the navy rosette at the very center is the darkest note in the rug. The border swings the other way, a clean ivory field that brightens the whole perimeter and lets the rust and olive leafwork stand out. There is no harsh contrast anywhere, which makes this an easy rug to live with next to oak, walnut, leather, linen and warm white walls, and it is forgiving in rooms that get strong afternoon light.

Woven in India in the Mahi Tabriz Tradition

India is where most of the world's good contemporary hand-knotted weaving is now done, and this piece shows why: the knot is even from selvage to selvage, the lattice keeps its count across more than 8 feet of width, and the pile is clipped low enough for the small motifs to stay legible. The Mahi drawing itself belongs to the northwest Persian workshop tradition, and Indian weavers have carried it forward faithfully, adding silk into the highlights for depth. The back shown in the photographs is tight and clean, the selvages are hand-wrapped and the ends are properly secured, which is what determines whether a rug like this stays flat for decades. If you are weighing where this sits in the wider category, our guide to what separates a Persian rug from an Oriental rug explains the terminology clearly and honestly.