9'10" x 13'4" Persian Kashan Rug | Red Floral Field with Navy Medallion | Signed Workshop Piece

This is a full room size Persian Kashan rug measuring 9'10" x 13'4", hand-knotted in wool on a cotton foundation and signed by its weaver in a small woven cartouche set into the upper border. It belongs to the most recognizable family of classical Persian floor pieces, the ones built around a deep red field, a navy lobed medallion and ivory corner spandrels, and it carries that formula at a scale that lets the drawing breathe. The pile is still full and even across the whole field, the sides and ends are intact, and the back shows tight, regular knotting with the pattern reading clearly from the reverse. Every rug we ship leaves Freeport with a certificate of authenticity confirming origin, materials and hand-knotted construction, and pieces in this size group sit alongside our other 10x13 Persian rugs for buyers furnishing a large living or dining space.

Design and Motifs

The center holds a navy medallion with a stepped, hooked outline, and inside it an ivory cartouche frames a sky blue 8 petal rosette at the very heart of the rug. Small anchor pendants rise from the top and bottom of the medallion, and the navy ground around it is filled with roses, carnations and curling leaf sprays rather than left open. The same navy and ivory pairing returns in the 4 corner spandrels, each one drawn with dense arabesque vinework and ivory scrollwork against dark ground. Across the red field the weaver has set an all over scheme of palmettes, lotus blossoms, rosettes and serrated leaves joined by thin curving vines, balanced symmetrically but with enough variation in the individual flower heads to keep it from looking printed. The main border runs on navy with alternating palmettes and linked floral vine, and it is framed by multiple narrow guard stripes of ivory and sky blue meander, which is where you also find the signature cartouche, worked in dark script on a green panel.

The Color Palette, Red at Its Center

The field is a deep madder red that leans slightly toward cherry under direct light and settles into a cooler burgundy in shade, which is typical of good Kashan wool and one of the reasons these pieces work so well in red and burgundy Persian rugs collections. Against it the medallion, spandrels and main border read as a dark indigo navy, nearly black where the pile falls away from the camera, giving the composition its strong structure. Ivory does the fine work: the inner medallion panel, the scrolling vines in the spandrels, the outlines of individual petals and the guard stripe grounds. Within the flowers the weaver has used sky blue and a deeper cobalt, a soft sage to olive green, warm gold and ochre, rose pink and a few touches of walnut brown, all in small quantities so they sparkle rather than compete. The green of the signature panel is the only place that color appears as a solid block. Overall the palette is warm, saturated and traditional, with no washed or overdyed tones.

Kashan Weaving and Workshop Quality

Kashan sits in central Persia, north of Isfahan, and its looms carry a workshop tradition that reaches back to the Safavid court ateliers. The town is known for soft, lustrous local wool and for the disciplined medallion and spandrel layout that this rug follows, which is exactly why it has become the default image of a classical Persian floor piece. When you watch Shark Tank there is a Persian Kashan on the floor. The reverse of this piece shows the hallmarks of real workshop production: fine, closely packed knots on a cotton warp, straight selvedges, and a pattern that stays true from one side of a 13'4" length to the other, which takes a drawn cartoon and an experienced weaver rather than a village improvisation. The signed cartouche confirms it came off a named loom, and the wool has kept the slight sheen that Kashan pile develops as it is walked on and brushed over the years.