8'3" x 12'5" Persian Isfahan Najafabad Rug | Red & Navy Floral Medallion | 1980's Fine Wool

This is a 1980's Esfahan design rug woven in Najafabad, the weaving town just west of Isfahan, and it has come back to us in genuinely perfect order: a full 3/8" fine wool pile, straight sides, even ends and no repairs. At 8'3" x 12'5" it is a true room-size piece that fills the floor under a sofa group or a 10 seat table, which is why it sits among our large Persian rugs rather than the accent sizes. The drawing is classic central Persian city work, a star medallion on a crimson field packed with vine and palmette, framed by a deep navy main border. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The center holds an 8 petal rosette set in an ivory cartouche, ringed by navy lobes and anchored at top and bottom by tall palmette pendants. Around it the field runs as a dense allover of curling arabesque vine, serrated leaves, lotus blossoms and small bud clusters, drawn in a continuous rhythm so the eye keeps moving instead of stopping at the medallion. Ivory spandrels close off all 4 corners with the same vine vocabulary in a lighter key, giving the red field a shaped, scalloped outline. The main border carries alternating palmettes and rosettes on navy, flanked by narrow ivory and blue guard stripes that keep the pattern tidy right out to the selvage. It is a disciplined, curvilinear layout with no filler and no repeated shortcuts, which is what separates a city Esfahan drawing from village interpretations of the same formula.

The Crimson, Navy and Ivory Palette

The field is a deep crimson red with a slight cool cast, the kind of red that reads rich under lamplight and brightens toward cerise in direct daylight, as you can see between the overhead shots and the close-ups. Against it the borders are a near-black indigo navy, and between the two sits a broad range of blues: sky blue, powder blue and teal in the leaves and blossoms, which is the detail that keeps the rug from going heavy. Ivory appears three times over, in the medallion core, the corner spandrels and the guard stripes, and it is clean rather than yellowed. Old gold and camel tones outline the palmettes, with small touches of rust, soft rose and dark aubergine inside the flower heads. The wool has kept its sheen, so the colors shift gently with the nap when you walk the length of the rug.

Najafabad and the Isfahan Weaving Tradition

Najafabad lies a short drive west of Isfahan and weaves to the Isfahan playbook: cotton foundation, fine wool pile, curvilinear court drawing descended from the Safavid workshops of the 16th century. What Najafabad is known for is the practical version of that tradition, a slightly heavier handle and a sturdier pile than the finest Isfahan atelier pieces, which is exactly what you want in an 8'3" x 12'5" floor rug that has to live under furniture. The knotting here is regular and tight enough to hold the curved line cleanly through the medallion and the border palmettes, as the back shot shows, and the pile depth has worn evenly across the whole field after decades of careful use. If you want the background on how drawing, knot density and wool quality interact in this group, it is laid out in our complete guide to Isfahan rugs.