9'10" x 13'5" Persian Isfahan Rug | Navy Diamond Lattice Garden Panels | Signed & Never Used

A signed room-size piece in the classic panelled manner of the central Persian workshops, this 9'10" x 13'5" Persian Isfahan rug is hand-knotted in wool and silk on a cotton foundation with a short 1/4" pile that keeps every small motif legible. The weaver signed the work in a cartouche set into the ivory border, which is how a workshop piece declares itself rather than a market copy. It has never been on a floor: the pile is full, the ends and sides are original and untouched, and it sits flat straight out of the roll. Among 10x13 Persian rugs this is the size that finally covers a full seating group with all four legs on the wool. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity recording origin, materials and measurements.

Design and Motifs

The field is drawn as a diamond lattice, a garden of small panels set on the diagonal, each one filled with a different miniature pattern: 8 petal rosettes on ivory, tiny cross and star repeats, dense floral grids, and blossom sprays that change from panel to panel so no two neighbours read the same. At the center sits a lobed star medallion on a red ground, its core a sky blue 8 point star scattered with small ivory and gold devices, and narrow arrowhead pendants reach out along the long axis. The cusped inner frame that holds the lattice breaks into ivory spandrels seeded with the same small flowers, which keeps the corners light against the deep field. The main border repeats a rhythm of shaped cartouches and diamond panels, some carrying an upright cypress-like form, others filled with the same fine trellis work as the field. It is a busy design executed with discipline: the drawing stays square, the lattice lines run true from end to end, and the 4 corners resolve cleanly.

Navy, Red and Green Read Against Ivory

Navy blue is the structural color here. It forms the ground of the medallion field, the lattice bars themselves and the main border, and it is a true midnight tone rather than a flat black-blue, with the silk content catching light and lifting it as you walk around the rug. Against that navy the palette is deliberately jewel-like: a clear madder red in the medallion and in dozens of small panels, a cool bottle and sage green in the leafwork and border vines, and ivory to cream in the spandrels, guard stripes and rosette grids. Secondary notes do a lot of work at close range, including soft lilac and mauve panels through the outer border, pale sky blue in the medallion core and in the small floral heads, and touches of camel and gold in the cartouche figures. From standing height the rug reads as deep navy with a warm red heart. From a few feet away it breaks into the full multi-colored garden the weaver intended.

Isfahan Weaving and the Quality of This Piece

Isfahan sits in central Persia and its reputation was built in the Safavid court workshops of the 16th century, resting on drawing above all else: the curved line, the flowing vine, the willingness to fit hundreds of separate small motifs into one field and keep them all in proportion. That only works at a high knot count, which is why the Isfahan manner is woven on a tight cotton foundation with a short pile and a wool and silk yarn, exactly as this rug is. The back, shown against a ruler, gives a clear reading of the knot density and the evenness of the rows. Silk is used where it earns its keep, in outlines and small highlights, so the design holds its edges instead of blurring. The signature cartouche in the border is the weaver's own mark and the final detail that separates a workshop rug from an anonymous one.