8'7" x 12' Persian Kerman Rug | Wool | Red and Navy

At 8'7" x 12', this is a Kerman knotted by hand in Persia with a wool pile. The field is a deep red, close to claret where the pile lies flat, and it is left mostly open: a single star medallion on a navy ground at the centre, floral sprays placed around it, and a wide navy border of leaf and vine work framing the whole.

The design

The medallion is built as a star of eight points, its navy ground filled with ivory and peach petal shapes and small blue rosettes, with a ring of narrow ivory rays around the outer edge. A pendant runs off each end, and the detached floral sprays, some upright bouquets, some curved sprigs, are spaced evenly over the red so that the ground itself stays visible between them. The rectangular field is closed by a scalloped red and ivory inner band with small blue palmettes, then a peach guard stripe carrying a beaded line, then the main border: serrated acanthus leaves in peach and brown scrolling across navy, with pale cartouches at intervals along the sides and at each corner.

The colour

The dominant colour is a red that reads as crimson from above and closer to burgundy where the pile leans away from the light. Against it, the navy of the medallion and the main border gives the rug its structure, while the drawing itself is worked in ivory and a soft peach that carries most of the pattern. Two lighter blues appear in the small flowers, and a muted sage green runs through the leaves and through several of the border cartouches, cooling the red where the two meet.

The making

Hand-knotted in wool, dated to the 1980's, which places it among semi-antique pieces rather than new ones. The condition is listed as excellent, and the photographs bear that out: the pile is even across the open field, the borders are unworn at the corners, and the pale fringe survives at both ends. The back shows the pattern clearly through the knots, and the selvedges are intact along both long sides.