8'3" x 12'2" Persian Kashan Rug | Signed Medallion on Red Field | 1980s, Excellent Condition

This is a textbook 1980s Kashan in the size most buyers of Persian Kashan rugs are hunting for, and it carries a woven cartouche in the top border, which means it left a named workshop rather than an anonymous loom. Hand-knotted in wool on a cotton foundation, it measures 8'3" x 12'2", a generous footprint among large Persian rugs that still fits a normal room without swallowing it. The pile stands at a full 3/8", the ends and sides are original, and the wool has the faint sheen that only good Kashan fleece develops. Every rug we ship travels with a certificate of authenticity recording origin, materials and measurements.

Design and Motifs

The drawing follows the classic Kashan formula, executed with more patience than most. A navy lobed medallion sits dead center, stepped and notched at every point, with an ivory inner cartouche holding a light blue rosette and a small red heart at its core. Pendants drop north and south, each finished with a serrated leaf finial. Around the medallion the red field is filled edge to edge with curling arabesque vines, palmettes, 8 petal rosettes and small birdlike floral sprays, all mirrored across both axes so the 4 corners read identically. Deep navy spandrels close off each corner with ivory split-leaf scrollwork. The border system runs 7 bands deep: a wide navy main border of alternating palmettes and rosettes, flanked by light blue turtle-palmette bands, then narrow ivory and gold guard stripes that keep the whole composition tightly framed.

The Red Field and Its Supporting Palette

The ground is a true madder red, warm and slightly brick-leaning rather than cherry, and it holds its tone evenly from selvage to selvage with no abrash streaking. Against it, the navy of the medallion and main border reads almost black in low light and opens into ink blue under a lamp. The third color doing the real work is a soft cornflower light blue, used in the inner medallion, the flanking border bands and dozens of tiny blossoms scattered through the field, which keeps the red from going heavy. Ivory appears as outlining, as the medallion core and as the guard stripes, giving the eye a clean edge everywhere it needs one. Rose pink, mustard gold, olive green and a few touches of deep aubergine fill the smaller flowerheads, and the signature cartouche itself is woven in a pale sage green that stands out against the red field above the border.

Kashan, Central Persia, and the Weave

Kashan sits in central Persia north of Isfahan and has been weaving since the Safavid court workshops of the 16th century, which is where this red field, navy lobed medallion and ivory spandrel formula comes from. The town is known for soft lustrous local wool and for city-workshop discipline: the knot is symmetrical, the rows are packed tight, and the curved lines of the vinework stay smooth rather than stepping. The back of this piece shows that regularity clearly, with crisp small knots and no loose or wandering rows. When you watch Shark Tank there is a Persian Kashan on the floor, which is the reason so many people recognize this design before they ever learn its name. At 8'3" x 12'2" with a signed border and full pile, this is the version collectors actually want.