8'4" x 10' Persian Heriz Rug | Red Field, Navy Star Medallion | Semi Antique Village Weave

A semi antique Heriz that has aged the way the good ones do: the madder red has mellowed a shade toward brick, the wool has taken on that dry glow you only get from decades of use and light, and the pile is still even from end to end at a full 3/8". It is hand-knotted in wool on a cotton foundation, and at 8'4" x 10' it sits squarely in the most useful room size there is, which is why 8x10 Persian rugs in this drawing rarely stay in stock. Every rug we ship carries a certificate of authenticity listing origin, materials and knotting.

Design and Motifs

The center holds an 8 point star medallion outlined in ivory, its core filled with a turquoise and olive rosette and framed by a black-blue ground that pushes the star forward. Long stepped pendants run north and south from the medallion, each one tipped with a lamp shaped finial. The red field around it is packed with angular vinework, hooked leaves and serrated palmettes, all drawn in straight lines and right angles rather than curves, which is exactly how a Heriz is built on a village loom. Four generous ivory corner spandrels cut the field on the diagonal and carry their own smaller versions of the same leaf and rosette vocabulary. The main border is a deep indigo band of alternating hexagonal cartouches and turtle palmettes, flanked by narrow reciprocating guard stripes in rose and ivory. Collectors of geometric Persian rugs will recognize the balance here: the drawing is bold enough to read across a room, but the filler work rewards a close look at the corner and border details.

The Color Palette

Red is the anchor, but it is not one flat red. The field moves between a deep madder and a lighter brick tone, with soft horizontal abrash visible in the open areas of the overhead shots, the natural signature of small dye lots on a village loom. Against it, the medallion field and the main border read as a blue so dark it passes for black until light hits it and the indigo comes through. Ivory does the structural work: the corner spandrels, the outline around the star, the guard stripes and the fringe all pull the composition apart and keep the red from crowding. Inside the medallion and scattered through the field are the accent colors that make this piece: clear turquoise, dusty olive green, soft salmon and rose, a warm camel, and small flecks of undyed white wool. The overall effect in a room is warm and grounded rather than bright, and it sits comfortably with walnut and oak floors, leather, brass and dark wood, which is how it is photographed here on parquet.

Heriz Weaving in Northwest Persia

Heriz is a cluster of weaving villages east of Tabriz, sitting below Mount Sabalan in northwest Persia. Two things made the area famous. The first is the water, which is mineral rich and gives the local fleece an unusual toughness; Heriz wool is coarse in the hand compared to Isfahan or Nain kork, and that is precisely why these rugs survive generations of foot traffic. The second is the drawing method: weavers work from memory and small village cartoons rather than a fully plotted court design, so the medallion is built out of straight lines and stepped corners instead of the flowing curved vine of a workshop rug. Village Heriz weaving typically runs under 200 knots per square inch, and the knot count is not the point. The point is a heavy, dense, honest wool rug that you can put in the busiest room in the house and hand down. The back of this one, shown with a ruler in the last photograph, is tight and regular with clean cotton wefts and no sign of the pile thinning anywhere across the 10' length.