8'7" x 11'3" Persian Heriz Rug | Red Field Geometric Medallion | Excellent Condition

This is a classic Heriz in the size most rooms actually want, a shade under the standard 9x12 and easy to live with in a living room, a dining room or a wide family space. The pile is wool on a cotton foundation, knotted with the sturdy hand that makes Heriz rugs famous for lasting generations under real furniture and real traffic. Condition is excellent, with even pile from end to end, full selvedges and clean ivory fringe, and the back photograph shows tidy, regular rows of knots with no repairs. It sits comfortably among our large Persian rugs and ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming it as a hand-knotted Persian Heriz.

Design and Motifs

The center holds an 8 petal ivory rosette set inside a stepped medallion, with sky blue and indigo palmettes radiating out at each point and a pair of tall cusped pendants reaching toward the ends. Around it the red field carries angular vine work, serrated leaves, small rosettes and cross-shaped blossoms, drawn in the straight-line village manner rather than the curved court style, which is exactly what collectors of geometric Persian rugs look for. All 4 corners are filled with ivory spandrels drawn with bold scrolling leaf forms, and the main navy border alternates rectangular cartouches with large red and ivory rosette panels, framed by narrow guard stripes of running vine. The two halves of the field mirror each other closely, with the small variations in drawing that tell you a weaver worked this from memory rather than a printed sheet.

Reading the Red, Navy and Ivory Palette

The field is a deep madder red that shifts between brick and a cooler rose as the pile catches light, the sign of a wool that took dye well and has mellowed slowly rather than fading flat. Against it the border reads as a dark indigo navy, almost black in the corners, which pushes the red forward and gives the rug its weight on a pale floor. Ivory does the lifting: the medallion rosette, the 4 corner spandrels and the fine outlines that separate one motif from the next. Secondary colors are used in small doses and are worth looking for, a clear sky blue in the palmettes and leaf tips, a mustard gold and soft olive in the vines, and a faded rose that appears in the border flower heads. Buyers shopping red and burgundy Persian rugs will find this one warm without going orange, and dark enough in the border to anchor heavy wood furniture.

Heriz: Village Weaving East of Tabriz

Heriz is a cluster of villages on the slopes below Mount Sabalan, east of Tabriz in northwest Persia. The water there runs through mineral-rich rock, and the local wool is famously tough and slightly glossy, which is why Heriz rugs wear down so slowly and keep their color for decades. Weavers work on a cotton warp and weft with a firm beat, producing a thick, substantial rug rather than a fine one; most village Heriz work sits below 200 knots per square inch, and the design language is built for that, with straight lines, stepped outlines and large bold forms instead of fine curved drawing. Hold the back photograph against the ruler and you can see the rows sitting straight and even, the mark of a well-set loom and a weaver who kept tension steady across 11 feet of length. That combination of honest structure and confident drawing is why a Persian Heriz of this size remains the most practical serious rug you can put in a busy room.