9'1" x 16' Persian Najafabad Rug | Red All-Over Floral Medallion | Oversize Isfahan District Weave

This is a full palace-length floor, 16 feet of hand-knotted Najafabad weaving on a deep red ground, drawn in the formal Isfahan district manner and finished with a 3/8" dense wool pile that has held its body and its color. At 9'1" x 16" wide of pattern and 192 inches long, it belongs in the class of oversize Persian rugs that are genuinely difficult to find in this condition, because pieces this long were woven for large houses and rarely survive without abrash, wear lines or reweaving. The pile here is even from end to end, the fringes and selvedges are intact, and the condition is excellent. Every rug we ship travels with a certificate of authenticity recording origin, materials and dimensions, and this one moves as free freight in all 50 states despite its weight.

Design and Motifs

The field carries a dense all-over floral lattice of curved vine, split palmettes, lotus heads and small 8 petal rosettes, with the scroll work running continuously from one end of the 16 foot length to the other rather than repeating in obvious blocks. At the center sits a cusped indigo medallion with an ivory and light blue interior, a small rose rosette at its core, and slender pendants reaching toward each end into a tall lobed cartouche. The 4 corner spandrels are worked in ivory and soft blue and filled with the same vine, so the drawing never breaks between field and corner. Framing all of it are 5 bands: an indigo main border of large palmettes and paired rosettes, a pair of ivory and light blue floral guard stripes on either side, and a narrow outer stripe of repeating leaf and stem. The curved line work is what identifies the district, long unbroken arabesques rather than the angular village drawing found further north.

Color: Deep Tomato Red, Indigo and Ivory

The ground is a warm tomato red, slightly brick-toned in raking light, and it stays consistent across the full width, which is unusual on a rug this large. Against it the indigo of the medallion and main border reads almost black-blue at the edges and opens up into a clear mid blue where the vine work is outlined. Ivory and cream do most of the drawing, carrying the spandrels, the guard stripes and the outlines of the palmettes so the pattern stays legible from across a room. Secondary tones do the quiet work: a soft sky blue in the inner spandrels and the innermost guard stripe, olive and sage green in the leaves, a muted rose pink in the border blossoms, and touches of camel and warm brown in the smaller palmette centers. The palette is a formal red and blue scheme rather than a pastel one, and it sits well with dark walnut or mahogany furniture, brass, and cream or oatmeal walls.

Najafabad and the Isfahan Weaving Tradition

Najafabad is a town roughly 15 miles west of Isfahan in central Persia, and it weaves from the same design tradition, working off drawn cartoons prepared in the Isfahan workshops. The difference is purpose. Where the city masters described in our guide to Isfahan rugs push knot counts high on small formats in kork wool and silk, Najafabad weavers took the same curved, courtly drawing and built it into large room and palace sizes on a cotton foundation with a heavier, hard-wearing wool pile. That is exactly what you want in a 16 foot rug: a dense 3/8" pile that takes daily traffic under a long dining table or across a great room without crushing, and a weave tight enough to keep the arabesques crisp. Sold within the Isfahan group and valued for that combination of formal design and durability, a Najafabad of this length and condition is a floor you buy once.