8'9" x 11'9" Oriental Rug | Tabriz Mahi Fish Design | Deep Pom Red, Ivory & Green Wool

This is a brand new, never used hand-knotted Oriental rug woven in China to the classic Tabriz Mahi drawing, measuring 8'9" x 11'9" with a cotton foundation and a 3/8" wool pile. The weave is tight and even, the pile is dense underfoot, and the drawing holds its geometry across the full length of the field without wandering, which is the first thing to look for in an all over fish pattern at this scale. It is a true room size piece, the natural fit for a 9x12 area rug footprint, and the low pile height means it clears doors and sits flat under furniture legs. Every rug we ship carries a certificate of authenticity confirming that it is hand-knotted, along with its measurements, materials and origin.

Design and Motifs

The layout is the Tabriz Mahi, the fish pattern, and it is drawn in full classical form. A layered lozenge medallion sits dead center, built in three rings: an ivory scalloped outline, a dark inner cartouche, and a small pale core with its own rosette. Slim pendants rise and drop from the top and bottom points of the medallion, each one a lobed palmette filled with tiny flowerheads and finished with a green leaf tip, clearly visible in the detail shot. Four corner spandrels in pale ivory-green repeat quarter sections of the same medallion drawing, which is the mark of a properly resolved cartoon. The field between them is a continuous herati lattice: diamond frames with a rosette at each center and four curved fish leaves turning around it, repeated hundreds of times with no break in rhythm. The main border runs a dark navy ground with rotating palmettes and serrated leaves on a scrolling vine, flanked by multiple ivory and rose guard stripes, the innermost carrying a small repeating boteh and flowerhead run.

A Deep Pom Red Field with Ivory and Green Accents

The field is deep pom red, a saturated cool-leaning red closer to garnet than to brick, and it is the anchor of the whole piece. Against it, the herati lattice is picked out in ivory, soft pistachio green, powder blue and small points of near black, so from a few steps back the field reads as a fine allover shimmer rather than as individual motifs. The medallion and spandrels shift the balance the other way: pale ivory and light green dominate there, edged in navy and a thin line of sky blue, which lifts the center clear of the red ground. The main border reverses everything into a deep navy ground, and on it the palmettes come through in ivory, rose, salmon and jade green, with the rose tones giving the border a warmth that keeps the navy from going heavy. Guard stripes in cream and pale rose separate each band cleanly. The outer selvedge and the flat woven end finish return to red, and the fringe is clean bright cream cotton.

Origin and Weaving Quality

This rug is made in China, hand-knotted on a cotton warp and weft by weavers working from a Tabriz cartoon. Chinese workshops have produced this particular design for decades and the best of them are exacting about it, because the Mahi pattern punishes any weaver who lets the count drift: the diamonds go crooked and the eye catches it instantly. Here the lattice stays square from end to end, the medallion outline is smooth through its scalloped curves, and the border corners resolve properly instead of being cut off mid-motif, all signs of a careful loom and a good cartoon. The 3/8" wool pile is clipped low and even, which is what allows this much fine detail to register, and the wool has a quiet sheen in raking light. If you are weighing where this sits among hand-knotted goods, our guide on the difference between Persian and Oriental rugs explains exactly what the two terms cover. This one is new, never walked on, and ready for the floor.