8'4" x 11'10" Persian Nain Rug | 6La Ivory Floral Medallion | Approx. 400 KPSI, Never Used

Most Nain rugs put one medallion in the middle of the field and leave it at that. This one does not. The weaver set a full lobed rosette medallion at the centre and then repeated the same drawing again further down the field, so the pattern reads as a rhythm rather than a single focal point, which is why the piece stands out in a room the moment it is unrolled. It is a 6La weave at roughly 400 knots per square inch, hand-knotted in fine wool with silk used to outline the flowers and tendrils, and the pile has never been walked on. Rugs.net imports directly, and this rug ships with a certificate of authenticity. If you want the background on why 6La Nain rugs sit at the top of the category, the guide explains the La counting system in detail.

Design and Motifs

The field is covered edge to edge with a fine scrolling vine system: thin blue tendrils loop across the ivory ground and carry lotus blossoms, small bell flowers, split palmettes and feathered serrated leaves. At the centre sits an 8 lobed rosette medallion filled with curling arabesque work and framed by pale blue outlines, with a second matching medallion repeated toward the lower half of the field and quartered forms answering it in the corners. Delicate cloudband and cartouche shapes in soft brown drift through the open ground, a Nain habit that keeps the ivory from ever looking empty. The main border is an ivory band of connected palmettes and turning vine, punctuated with small maroon lozenge devices, and it is held between narrow navy guard stripes drawn with a running ivory scroll. Every flower head is finished with a silk outline, which is what gives the drawing its raised, embroidered look in raking light.

A Palette Built on Ivory and Light Blue

The ground is a warm ivory, closer to unbleached cream than to stark white, and it carries a faint natural variation across the width that only handspun wool produces. Over it the weaver worked two separate blues: a clear mid light blue for the vine lines and medallion outlines, and a deeper ink navy reserved for the guard stripes, flower centres and the shadow side of the leaves. Beige and soft camel brown fill the leaves, cloudbands and palmette bodies, which is what keeps the whole surface calm rather than cold. The only warm notes are the small maroon sprays that flick out of the leaf stems and the tiny maroon medallions in the border, and there are occasional touches of pale sage green in the flower heads. Under lamplight the silk outlines catch first and the blues read brighter; in daylight the rug settles into ivory and pale blue with a beige undertone, which makes it easy to place over light oak, pale stone or a cool grey floor.

Nain: The Town and the Weave

Nain sits on the edge of the central Persian desert, east of Isfahan, and only began weaving pile rugs in the 1930s when its fine wool cloth trade fell away. The town brought the drawing discipline of Isfahan with it, which is why a good Nain is judged on line quality and knot count rather than on bold color. La refers to the number of plies in the warp threads the weaver works over: 9La is the coarser end, 6La is the fine collector grade, and it is at 6La that the curved vine can be drawn with this kind of precision. The reverse of this piece shows small, even, tightly packed knots at roughly 400 per square inch, a cotton foundation and straight, disciplined selvages, all indicators of workshop rather than village production. For more on how the town developed its house style, read the complete guide to Persian Nain rugs.