8'4" x 11'5" Persian Mashad Rug | Wine Red Field, Ivory Border | Excellent Condition

This 8'4" x 11'5" Persian Mashad rug is hand-knotted in wool on a cotton foundation, with a deep wine red field, a navy lobed medallion at center and a wide ivory border framing all 4 sides. The pile stands at a full 3/8", even from end to end, and the drawing stays crisp where the vinework meets the medallion outline. At 100" by 137" it sits squarely in the 8x11 Persian rugs range, large enough to carry a full seating group without swallowing a normal room. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The center holds a pointed navy medallion built in 3 layers: a small ivory outlined rosette at the core, a rust and terracotta cartouche around it, and an outer indigo field of curling arabesques and rose colored blossoms. Slim pendants drop from the top and bottom tips into the open field. Around the medallion the field is not empty, it is filled with a delicate all-over lattice of thin flowering stems, 8 petal rosettes in cobalt blue, serrated saz leaves and small palmettes scattered at an even rhythm, which is the classic Mashad habit of keeping the ground busy without crowding the medallion. The 4 corner spandrels repeat the navy ground with curled leaves and a bold square rosette set inside each one. The main ivory border runs a continuous vine of palmettes, red tulip forms and paired leaves, flanked by narrow guard stripes of small connected blossoms on navy, so the eye reads the frame as one uninterrupted band all the way around.

A Wine Red Field Against Ivory and Indigo

Wine red is the anchor here, a saturated madder tone with a faint plum depth in the shadows rather than the orange leaning red of village weaving. Set against it, the ivory border reads almost cream, warmed slightly by the sand and buff tones inside the vine, and that contrast is what gives the rug its formal, framed look on a floor. The navy of the medallion and spandrels is nearly black in the low light and opens into true indigo where the light hits, which is exactly how good hand-spun wool behaves. Inside those dark grounds sit the softer accents: rose pink, salmon, brick terracotta, olive green in the leaves, pale ivory outlines that keep every curve legible. Small cobalt rosettes float across the red ground and pull the border blues into the middle of the rug. The palette is deep enough to work with dark wood and heavy upholstery, and warm enough that it lifts a room with cool grey walls.

Mashad Weaving in Khorasan

Mashad is the great weaving city of Khorasan in northeast Persia, a pilgrimage center whose workshops have supplied court quality room size rugs for generations. The regional wool is long stapled and glossy, which is why a Mashad holds its sheen after decades of use and why the wine reds deepen rather than dull. Weavers there work on a cotton warp and weft with a Persian knot, drawing curved medallion and vine designs that need a controlled, steady knot count to keep the arabesques flowing rather than stepping. You can see that discipline in the outline of this medallion, where the ivory contour line stays a consistent thickness through every lobe and scroll, and in the border, where the palmette repeat lands cleanly at each corner instead of being cut short. Handled and turned over, the rug is supple, tightly beaten and sits flat, the signs of a properly balanced workshop piece rather than a loosely woven copy.