8'4" x 12'2" Persian Heriz Rug | Ruby Red Geometric Medallion | Ivory Corner Spandrels

This is the Heriz that people picture when they say Persian rug: a deep ruby red field, a big angular medallion anchored by an ivory rosette, and ivory corner spandrels that lift the whole composition. It measures 8'4" x 12'2", hand-knotted on a cotton foundation with a 3/8" wool pile that still stands up full and even across the field, and it sits squarely in the size most buyers want for a sofa-and-chairs group or a long dining table. The wool has the dry, glassy sheen that only comes from good mountain fleece and years of gentle burnishing, and the condition is excellent with no repairs or wear areas to work around. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming it is hand-knotted, the origin, the materials and the measurements. Among large Persian rugs in this size class, a clean village Heriz like this one is the piece that gets bought and kept.

Design and Motifs

The drawing is pure Heriz: everything is built from straight lines, stepped edges and blunt angles rather than curved vine work. At the center sits an 8 petal ivory rosette ringed in navy, set inside a broad stepped medallion whose arms fan out into hooked palmettes and split leaf forms. Above and below the medallion, twin pendants reach toward the ends in tiers of red, navy and gold, and the open red ground between them is filled with small angular blossoms, cruciform rosettes and serrated leaves rather than left plain. The 4 corner spandrels are worked in ivory and carry scrolling vines and large palmettes outlined in black, which is what gives the field its lit-from-the-corners look. Around all of it runs a wide navy main border of alternating rosettes and geometric cartouches, framed by narrow gold guard stripes of running vine and star rosettes. Collectors of geometric Persian rugs look for exactly this balance, where the medallion reads clearly from across a room but the field rewards a close look.

A Ruby Red Field With Navy, Ivory and Gold

The field is a warm ruby red that shifts toward brick and terracotta where the light catches the pile, and it carries gentle abrash, the natural banding that comes from hand-dyed yarn worked in small lots. Against it the blues do most of the drawing: a deep inky navy for the medallion outline, the border ground and the black-blue contours of the palmettes, with a brighter cornflower blue popping out of the small filler blossoms and the crosses scattered through the field. Ivory is used sparingly and deliberately, in the central rosette, the 4 spandrels and the fine outline tracery, so it reads as light rather than as a second color. Gold and old mustard run through the guard stripes and the leaf stems, warming the border, and there are soft rose pink, salmon and pale teal notes in the smaller flower heads that only show at close range. It is a saturated, confident palette that sits well with dark wood, brass, leather and cream walls.

Heriz: Village Weaving East of Tabriz

Heriz is a group of villages east of Tabriz in northwest Persia, spread below Mount Sabalan, and the rugs made there owe their reputation to two local facts. The water is mineral-rich, which sets the dyes hard and keeps reds and blues from going flat, and the highland sheep grow a famously tough, high-lanolin fleece that resists crushing underfoot. Weavers there work from memory and from small village cartoons rather than from a full workshop drawing, which is why Heriz design is angular: straight lines and stepped corners are what you can carry in your head and keep symmetrical across a 12 foot loom. The weave is a sturdy village weave on a cotton foundation, generally knotted below 200 knots per square inch, and that is the point rather than a shortcoming, because the coarser knot carries a heavier wool pile and gives these rugs their well-earned reputation for lasting several generations in the busiest room in the house. This example is a clean, honest piece of that tradition at a size that actually fits an American room.