8'5" x 11'9" Persian Yazd Rug | Kashan Floral Medallion | Signed, 1980s

This is a workshop piece from the 1980s, hand-knotted in wool on a cotton foundation and carrying a woven signature cartouche in the guard band at the top of the field, which is the weaver's way of putting his name to work he was willing to stand behind. At 8'5" x 11'9" it covers a standard 8x12 floor plan with a little extra length, and the pile is still full and even across the whole surface after four decades, with no low areas, no repairs and original selvages and fringe. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity that records the origin, materials, age and knotting.

Design and Motifs

The drawing follows the classic formula of Persian Kashan rugs: a pointed ivory medallion set inside a navy cartouche, blue spandrels filling the 4 corners, and a scalloped inner outline that frames the whole field. What separates this piece from an ordinary medallion rug is the field itself, which is not left open but filled edge to edge with a flowering vine, small rosettes, tulips, carnations and curved sickle leaves that lean toward the center without ever repeating mechanically. The medallion holds an 8 petal rosette at its heart, ringed by green palmettes and rose blossoms. Three borders carry the composition out: a wide navy main border of palmettes on ivory vinework, flanked by a rose and ivory guard stripe and a fine outer stripe. If you want to read more about this layout, our Persian Kashan rug guide walks through the medallion and spandrel tradition in detail.

A Deep Red Field With Navy, Ivory and Green

The field is a deep cherry red with a slight blue undertone, the kind of red that reads warm under lamplight and darker in daylight rather than turning orange. Against it the flowers are picked out in ivory, soft rose pink, sage and forest green, gold tan and two distinct blues: a mid teal used in the small blossoms and a deep navy used for the medallion ground, the spandrels and the main border. The medallion center is ivory shading to a pale peach, which is what gives the rug its focal point from across the room. The rose pink and ivory guard stripe between the navy border and the red field acts as a bright seam and keeps the two dark tones from crowding each other. Green appears mostly in leaf work, never as a block of color, and there is enough small ivory detail throughout that the rug never looks heavy despite the strong red and navy pairing.

Yazd Weaving in Central Persia

Yazd sits on the edge of the central Persian desert, roughly between Kashan and Kerman, and its workshops have long borrowed from both neighbors: the medallion and spandrel architecture of Kashan drawn with the softer floral vocabulary and the cochineal reds associated with Persian Kerman rugs. The weave here is tight and regular, with small knots that let the vine scroll curve properly instead of stepping, and the wool has the dry-climate luster that takes dye cleanly and holds it. The back photograph shows an even, close knot structure on a cotton foundation with no distortion in the corners, which is what you expect from a workshop loom rather than a village loom. A signed 1980s Yazd of this size and condition is a straightforward, well-built floor rug that will take decades more of daily use.