8'6" x 11'6" Chinese Oriental Rug | Tabriz Floral Medallion Design | Red, Sky Blue & Ivory

This is a hand-knotted Oriental rug made in China, drawn in the classical Tabriz medallion format and woven with a 3/8" wool pile on a cotton foundation. At 8'6" x 11'6" it sits squarely in the most useful room size there is, working the same way 9x12 area rugs do under a full seating group or a 8 to 10 seat dining table. The piece has never been used and shows no wear anywhere in the pile, the ends or the selvages, and the fringe is still full and bright. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming that it is genuinely hand-knotted, along with its measurements, materials and construction.

Design and Motifs

The layout follows the classic Tabriz workshop formula. A 16 point ivory medallion sits dead center, filled with fine interlaced vine work and finished with a small sage green rosette at its heart. Two slender pendants extend above and below it, each ending in a pinecone shaped finial. The field around the medallion is not empty for a moment: it carries an all-over lattice of curving arabesque vines, split palmettes, serrated leaves and multi petal rosettes that mirror perfectly from left to right and from top to bottom. Sky blue spandrels close off the 4 corners of the field, each one drawn with its own vine and blossom composition rather than a repeated stamp. The main border is a wide ivory band of alternating palmettes and cypress-like leaf forms linked by a continuous vine, framed on both sides by narrow guard stripes, one of them a small reciprocal zigzag in red and ivory that runs the full perimeter. The drawing is curvilinear throughout, with clean unbroken outlines on the scrolls, which is the real test of this style.

A Brick Red Field with Sky Blue and Ivory

The field is a warm brick red, slightly softened rather than fire engine bright, and it reads as a deep terracotta in daylight and a richer wine tone under lamps. Against it the ivory medallion and ivory main border give the rug its structure, both a creamy off white rather than a stark bleached white. The third color is sky blue, used with real discipline: full strength in the 4 corner spandrels and in one of the guard stripes, then broken down into pale powder blue petals and leaf tips scattered evenly across the field so the blue carries from edge to center. Supporting tones include a dusty rose and salmon pink in the flower heads, a soft sage green in the medallion core and in some of the leaves, and near black navy outlines that sharpen the palmettes and keep the pattern legible from across the room. The overall effect is warm and traditional but lighter than a typical all red rug, because the ivory and blue lift it.

Origin and Weaving Quality

This rug was hand-knotted in China, where workshops have spent decades reproducing the classical city designs on upright looms with the same knot-by-knot method, and the better ateliers produce work that is dense, accurate and extremely consistent. The back shows tight, even rows with no slack, the corners are square and the side finishes are clean, all signs of a well managed loom rather than a rushed one. The pile is a sturdy 3/8" wool, clipped level so the fine outlines in the vine work stay crisp, and it has the body to take heavy furniture and traffic without crushing. The cotton warp and weft give the rug a flat, obedient lie on the floor from day one. For a buyer who wants the look of a formal medallion design in a true room size, with wool that will wear for generations, this is a lot of hand work for the money. Browse more Oriental rugs if you would like to compare it against other traditional pieces in the same size class.