9'10" x 12'11" Persian Kashan Rug | Navy Blue Floral Medallion | 1980s, Perfect Condition

Rug 6286 is a 9'10" x 12'11" Persian Kashan rug woven in the 1980s, hand-knotted on a cotton foundation with a wool pile that is still full, even and high across the entire field. Four decades on there is no thinning at the medallion, no wear track at the ends and no restoration: the drawing reads as crisply in the close-up photographs as it does across the whole floor. Measured at 118" x 155", it sits squarely in the bracket of 10x13 Persian rugs, the size that covers a full seating group or a large table with the chairs pulled back. Every rug we ship carries a certificate of authenticity confirming origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The center holds an 8 petal rosette set inside a lobed turquoise medallion, ringed by ivory cartouche panels that each carry their own tiny floral spray. Above and below the medallion, pendant finials in turquoise and gold drop into the field and anchor the long axis. The rest of the ground is a true allover composition: scrolling vines, serrated acanthus leaves, curled palmettes and small blossoms repeat in mirrored pairs and fill the navy with no empty space, drawn in the curvilinear Kashan manner rather than in straight village lines. All 4 corners carry large spandrels built from swirling arabesques and a shield-shaped vase motif, the boldest turquoise passages in the whole rug. The main navy border runs a chain of ivory and gold palmettes linked by a meandering vine, flanked on both sides by pale sky blue guard bands of alternating rosettes and small crosses, with narrow gold ribbon stripes separating every element.

Navy, Turquoise and Ivory Color Story

The ground is a deep midnight navy that photographs almost black in low light and opens into clear indigo when the pile is raked toward the light, which is why this piece belongs with the best navy blue Persian rugs. Against it the palette is warm rather than cold: ivory and cream do most of the outlining, backed by wheat gold, camel and a soft olive green in the leaves. The turquoise is the signal color, saturated and slightly green in the medallion, spandrels and pendants, then stepped down into a chalky sky blue that carries the guard borders and the paler leaf tips. Accents come in small doses, rust and terracotta in the palmette hearts, salmon pink in the border rosettes, and occasional pinpoints of deep red at the flower centers. The pale blue guard bands are what keep the rug from going heavy: they draw a light frame around all that navy and lift the whole field.

Kashan, Central Persia, and the Weave

Kashan sits in central Persia, north of Isfahan, and its looms trace back to the Safavid court workshops that set the standard for curved-line floral drawing. Local wool there is soft and unusually lustrous, which is why Kashan pile keeps a low sheen for decades instead of going dull. The house formula most people picture is a red field with a navy medallion and ivory spandrels; this one inverts it, putting the medallion in turquoise on a navy ground, and the result is far less common on the market. The knotting is fine and consistent, the vines close on themselves cleanly and the border motifs repeat without drift, all marks of a workshop loom rather than a village one. Kashan is also the design most Americans have seen without knowing its name: when you watch Shark Tank, there is a Persian Kashan on the floor.