8'9" x 11'10" Chinese Tabriz Design Rug | Black Dome Medallion | Fine Wool Pile

This 8'9" x 11'10" hand-knotted Oriental rug is a full dome composition, the pattern weavers call gonbad, worked in fine wool on a cotton foundation. Instead of a floating medallion on an open field, the whole surface is drawn as though you were standing under a tiled cupola and looking straight up: a pale ivory star at the crown, then rib after rib of black and burgundy panels falling away to the border on all 4 sides. It is a demanding cartoon to weave straight, and this one holds its symmetry corner to corner. The rug is brand new and never used, with a 3/8" pile that still stands full, and it ships with a certificate of authenticity. At just under 9 feet by 12 feet it settles naturally into the proportions most buyers shopping 9x12 area rugs are working with.

Design and Motifs

The center is a 16 point ivory star filled with a tight symmetrical spray of palmettes, curling leaves and a small dark rosette at the exact midpoint. From that star the design radiates outward in alternating wedges: narrow ivory ribs outlined with bead and pearl banding, wider black panels carrying arabesque vinework, and deep burgundy pendants shaped like elongated boteh at the 4 quarter points. Each wedge is filled differently, so the eye keeps finding new drawing, cypress like leaf forms, split palmettes, tiny flowering sprigs and lattice fields that read like glazed tilework. The main border is a cartouche band, alternating rectangular panels of green and ivory with 8 petal star rosettes on burgundy grounds, and every corner resolves cleanly with a full rosette rather than a cut motif. Guard stripes on both sides run a fine reciprocal vine, and the black selvage frames the whole piece before the hand-tied ivory fringe.

Black Ground, Ivory Crown and Burgundy Borders

Black does the structural work here. It fills the broad radiating panels and gives the ivory ribs their glow, so the dome effect reads instantly from across a room. The crown star and the rib outlines are a warm ivory that shades toward soft cream and pale gold depending on the light, and in the floor photographs the whole field lifts several tones lighter than it looks in the straight-on studio shot. Burgundy carries the pendants, the rosette grounds and the outer band, sitting somewhere between wine and brick rather than a bright red. The green is quiet and used with restraint: sage and turquoise tones inside the border cartouches, in the small leaf forms of the panels and in scattered highlights around the medallion, just enough to cool the reds. Small touches of charcoal, rose beige and pale blue appear throughout the fine detail work. The overall reading is dark, warm and formal, a palette that anchors wood floors and works with cream, camel, deep green or oxblood upholstery.

Origin and Weaving Quality

This rug was made in China, on a hand-knotted loom, following a classic Tabriz dome cartoon. Chinese ateliers built their reputation on exactly this kind of work: high knot density, disciplined curved line and clean colour separation on complex court style drawings. The evidence is in the detail photographs, where the ruler laid across the border shows a tight, even row structure and knot nodes small enough to carry the hairline outlines that make the ribs of the dome look three dimensional. The pile is fine wool clipped to 3/8", short enough to keep the drawing crisp and long enough to wear well under furniture, over a cotton foundation with hand-tied fringe at both ends. If you are weighing this against other weaving groups, our guide on Oriental rugs and how they differ explains what separates the categories. Condition is new and perfect, with no wear, no repair and no fading.