8'6" x 11'7" Oriental Rug | Black Tabriz Design | All-Over Floral Wool Pile, New and Never Used

This is a hand-knotted Oriental rug woven in China in the classic Tabriz manner, measuring 8'6" x 11'7" with a 3/8" wool pile on a cotton foundation. It has never been on a floor: the pile stands upright, the selvages are tight, and the ivory fringe is still crisp and evenly tied. At 102" x 139" it lands squarely in the most requested 9x12 area rug size, large enough to seat a full sofa group or an eight chair dining table with all chairs pulled back. Every rug we ship travels with a certificate of authenticity confirming it is genuinely hand-knotted.

Design and Motifs

The field is a true all-over floral, with no central medallion to anchor the eye. Slender vines sweep across the black ground in mirrored arcs, throwing off palmettes, eight petal rosettes, half open lotus heads and small pointed leaves that repeat along the vertical axis. Look closely at the close-up photograph and you can see how carefully the drawing is balanced: each half of the field answers the other, and the little four pointed star fillers are placed to keep the black ground from going flat. The rug is framed by a wide main border of large palmettes and serrated leaves running between four narrow guard stripes, with a delicate meandering vine on the innermost bands. The 4 corners are properly resolved, the border pattern turning cleanly rather than being cut off, which is the mark of a design drawn on a full cartoon rather than improvised at the loom.

A Black Field Framed in Berry Red

The ground is a deep, even black, dark enough to read as near charcoal in low light and to make the floral work appear lit from within. Against it, the blossoms are drawn in layered creams and ivories, with soft sage and olive greens in the leaves, warm gold and honey tones in the larger palmettes, and small touches of dusty salmon and rose at the flower centers. The main border shifts the temperature completely: a rich berry red, closer to wine than to tomato, carrying the same cream, gold and green palette so the two areas speak to each other. Narrow ivory guard bands separate field from border and keep the contrast from becoming harsh. On a wood floor, as shown in the room photographs, the black reads as a grounding anchor while the red border picks up the warmth of the boards.

Weaving Origin and Quality

This piece was made in China, where workshops have spent decades weaving to the classical Tabriz drawing at a high knot count and a short clipped pile. The 3/8" wool pile is cut low deliberately, because a fine all-over floral only holds its detail when the surface is close enough to show every outline, and the detail photograph of the back edge with the ruler shows how tight and regular the knotting is. The wool has a quiet sheen rather than a hard shine, the handle is firm and dense, and the rug lies perfectly flat straight out of the roll. Among hand-knotted Oriental rugs in this size, a piece in new, never used condition with drawing this controlled is an easy one to live with for decades.