8'9" x 12'6" Persian Isfahan Rug | Ivory Allover Floral Field with Red Star Medallion | 1980s

This is a town-woven piece in the tradition of the Persian Isfahan rugs of central Persia, woven in the 1980s on a cotton foundation with a close-clipped fine wool pile. At 8'9" x 12'6" it covers a full seating group or a 10 seat dining table with chairs pulled out, and it drops into the same footprint most buyers shop when they look at 9x12 Persian rugs, with a little extra length. The pile is even, the selvedges are tight, the ends are original with clean cotton fringe, and the back photographed against a ruler shows a regular, disciplined knot line. Every rug we ship carries a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The drawing is classic Isfahan: a red star medallion built from tiers of serrated points and filled with small palmettes and 8 petal rosettes, floating on an ivory ground that runs edge to edge in an allover floral pattern. Thin green vines link lotus palmettes, tulip heads, cloud bands and curling saz leaves, each blossom outlined so the shape stays crisp at arm's length. There is no heavy spandrel; the medallion simply anchors a field that reads as a garden in continuous motion. The border system is layered: a wide brick red main band of palmettes and scrolling leaves, flanked by ivory guard stripes of small rosettes and a navy outer stripe, with 4 corners resolved cleanly rather than cut off.

A Warm Ivory Field Against Brick Red and Blue

The field is a warm ivory, closer to cream than white, which keeps the rug from feeling cold in a room with dark wood or heavy furniture. Against it the palette is tightly controlled: a soft brick red in the medallion and main border, navy for the deepest outlines and flower centers, and a bright cornflower blue that lifts the whole field where it appears in petals and leaf tips. Sage green and olive carry the vinework, with pale rose, camel and ivory used for highlights inside individual blossoms. Nothing is harsh. The close-up of the medallion shows how many separate shades sit side by side without any of them shouting.

Isfahan Weaving and Quality

Isfahan sits in central Persia and has been a weaving capital since the Safavid court workshops of the 16th century. The city's reputation rests on drawing rather than on flash: a true curved line, a vine that flows instead of stepping, and precision at the small scale, none of which is possible unless the weave is fine and the pile is clipped low. This rug follows that discipline, with a cotton foundation holding the piece flat and square, a low fine wool pile carrying the detail, and a symmetry across the field that tells you it was woven from a cartoon in a workshop setting rather than improvised. It is a formal rug that still sits comfortably in a lived-in room.