8'7" x 12'6" Persian Qazvin Rug | Red Field Floral Medallion | Ivory Spandrels, Excellent Condition

This is a city-woven Persian Qazvin in the classic format: a deep red field, a royal blue lobed medallion set dead center, and ivory corner spandrels that lift the whole composition. At 8'7" x 12'6" it is a genuine room-size piece, one of the more usable proportions among large Persian rugs, long enough to run a full seating group or a 10 seat dining table without crowding the walls. The pile is 3/8" wool on a cotton foundation, still full and even edge to edge, with clean selvages and original fringes at both ends. Condition is excellent, and the rug ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming it as a hand-knotted Persian piece.

Design and Motifs

The drawing is curvilinear throughout, with no straight lines anywhere in the field. A stepped royal blue medallion holds a small ivory rosette core and throws a pointed pendant north and south, each pendant finished with a cypress-like finial. Around it the field is packed with palmettes, serrated leaves, small 8 petal rosettes and scrolling vine, drawn small enough that the pattern reads as continuous texture from standing height and only separates into individual blossoms when you crouch. The ivory spandrels at all 4 corners carry the same vine language in reverse contrast, outlined in navy so the corner shape stays crisp. The main border is a royal blue ground with alternating palmettes and rosettes, flanked by ivory guard stripes of tiny flower heads and a fine reciprocal outer stripe, the same disciplined border logic you see in Persian Kashan rugs, which share this central Persian court repertoire.

Color Palette

The field is a warm brick red rather than a hard crimson, with a faint natural abrash that gives the ground movement under daylight. Against it the royal blue of the medallion and main border reads almost black in shadow and opens to a clear indigo where light hits the pile. Ivory does the structural work: the spandrels, the guard stripes and the outlines that separate one motif from the next, keeping a dense pattern legible instead of muddy. Inside the florals the weaver used a wider range than the 3 headline colors suggest, with soft rose, pale sky blue, sage green and a dusty mushroom brown appearing in individual petals and leaves. Those secondary tones are what make the rug sit comfortably with both warm woods and cooler modern upholstery.

Qazvin Weaving and Origin

Qazvin sits northwest of Tehran on the old road to Tabriz and served as the Safavid capital in the 16th century, which is why its workshop weaving follows court drawing rather than village geometry. Qazvin rugs are built like city pieces: a tight cotton warp and weft, short even wool pile, and a cartoon followed closely enough that the medallion is symmetrical and the border corners resolve properly, which is the fastest test of a well-drawn Persian rug. The wool here has the slightly dry, high-sheen handle typical of the region, and it wears extremely well, which is why a rug of this age still shows full pile. Made in Persia and knotted entirely by hand, this Qazvin is a formal traditional piece that will hold its own in a large living room or a wide formal dining room for decades.