8' x 12'2" Persian Kashan Rug | Red Floral Field with Navy Border | Excellent Condition

This is the Kashan formula done properly: a deep red field worked edge to edge in curling floral vine, a small lobed medallion holding the center, and a broad navy border that frames the whole 8' x 12'2" surface without crowding it. The pile is wool at 3/8 inch, dense and even underfoot, knotted on a cotton foundation in the classic central Persian manner. The drawing stays disciplined across the full length of the rug, with the medallion and its pendants sitting dead center and the corner spandrels mirroring each other cleanly. Condition is excellent, with full pile, straight sides and intact ivory fringe at both ends. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity recording origin, materials and construction.

Design and Motifs

At the center sits a small diamond medallion with stepped, cusped edges, its ivory ground carrying a teal rosette ringed by tiny blossoms. That medallion rests on a larger navy cartouche that reaches out with serrated hooks and finishes in a slender pendant at each end, each pendant tipped by a rosette and a spray of leaves. The red field around it is filled with a continuous lattice of thin vines carrying palmettes, 8 petal rosettes, open blossoms and narrow lanceolate leaves, drawn small enough that the pattern reads as texture from standing height and as individual flowers up close. Navy spandrels close all 4 corners, each one inset with an ivory panel of curling split leaf arabesque. The main border is a navy ground alternating pointed palmette cartouches with rosette clusters on a brown and ivory vine, flanked inside and out by teal guard stripes of meandering blossom, and finished at the outer edge by an ivory minor band of paired rosettes.

Reading the Color: Red, Navy and Ivory

The field is a true Kashan red, a cool cherry tone with a faint raspberry cast rather than a brick or rust red, and it holds that tone consistently from end to end. Against it the navy of the border, spandrels and medallion ground reads almost black in low light and opens into clear indigo under a lamp. Ivory does the quiet work: it outlines the medallion, lights the corner panels, carries the outer guard band and forms the fringe, so the eye always has a bright line to follow. The secondary palette is where the multi-color description earns its name, with petrol teal in the guard stripes and the medallion rosette, soft rose pink in the border blossoms, olive and khaki green in the leaves, warm caramel brown in the vine work and small flicks of gold in the flower centers. Studio lighting in the first photograph pushes the red slightly warmer than the showroom floor shots, which show the truer tone.

Kashan: Weaving Town and Weave Quality

Kashan sits in central Persia, north of Isfahan, and its looms descend directly from the Safavid court workshops that set the standard for the curved line medallion carpet. The town is known for soft, lustrous local wool that takes dye deeply and develops a light sheen with use, and for the red field, navy medallion and ivory spandrel scheme that most people picture when they picture a Persian rug. When you watch Shark Tank there is a Persian Kashan on the floor. This piece shows the hallmarks of good town workshop work: fine, tightly packed knotting on a cotton warp, drawing that keeps curves true across a 12'2" length, and a clipped 3/8 inch pile that lets the small floral detail stay legible, as the ruler close-up of the border makes clear. If you want the wider background on the type, our guide to Persian Kashan rugs covers the history, the dyes and what separates a workshop weave from a village one.