9'10" x 13'1" Persian Kashmar Rug | Red Medallion & All-Over Floral Field | Excellent Condition

This is a classic Kashmar in the format buyers ask for most often, a true room size piece measuring 9'10" x 13'1" that sits comfortably in the family of 10x13 Persian rugs. It is hand-knotted in Khorasan wool on a cotton foundation, with a 3/8" pile that still stands full and even across the whole field, and the drawing is the formal workshop kind: one crisp central medallion, four matching corner spandrels, and a field packed edge to edge with flowering vinework. The condition is excellent, the ends and sides are sound, and the fringe is original. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity recording origin, materials, size and hand-knotted construction, so what you read here is what travels with the rug.

Design and Motifs

The centre holds a layered lobed medallion built around an ivory core, ringed by a slate blue cartouche band and finished top and bottom with pointed pendants that reach out into the field. Around it the ground is a continuous all-over lattice of curved stems carrying Shah Abbas palmettes, 8 petal rosettes, tulip heads, serrated leaves and small cypress-like sprays, each motif outlined so the pattern reads clearly from standing height rather than blurring into texture. The 4 corner spandrels repeat the medallion vocabulary at a larger scale and close the composition neatly. Five border bands frame the whole thing: a wide main border of alternating palmettes and vine scrolls, flanked by narrower floral guard stripes and an outer reciprocal running border, exactly the multi-band structure you can see in the close-up photographs.

The Color Palette

The field is a clear red with a slight raspberry lean, warm without going orange, and it carries a soft tonal shift in places that is natural abrash from the dye lots rather than wear. Against it the drawing works in slate blue, deep navy, cream and ivory, with olive and sage green in the leafwork and small accents of salmon, dusty rose, camel and pale sky blue. The medallion reverses the scheme, sitting ivory and blue on red, while the main border drops to a smoky slate blue ground that cools the whole piece and keeps the red from dominating a room. If your scheme is built around red and burgundy Persian rugs, this one gives you that depth with a genuinely blue frame rather than the usual navy-on-red repetition.

Kashmar and the Khorasan Weaving Tradition

Kashmar is a weaving town in Khorasan, northeast Persia, a few hours southwest of Mashad, and it works in the same regional tradition sold within the Persian Mashad rugs group. Khorasan wool is the reason these pieces hold up: long staple, high lanolin, and it takes dye deeply, which is why the reds and blues here still look saturated rather than chalky. Kashmar looms specialise in exactly this format, large formal medallion pieces drawn from paper cartoons, woven on a cotton warp and weft so the rug stays square and lies flat. The reverse photograph with the ruler shows tight, regular knotting and clean color definition node by node, the mark of a workshop piece rather than village improvisation. Our Persian Mashad rug guide explains how the Khorasan workshops built that reputation.