9'10" x 15'8" Persian Kashan Rug | Red Field with Ivory Medallion | 1980s Oversize

At 9'10" x 15'8" this Kashan is a genuine room filler, long enough to run a 10 seat dining table or a full seating group with proper margin on all 4 sides, which puts it squarely among the oversize Persian rugs that are hardest to find in good condition. It was knotted in the 1980s on a cotton foundation with a full wool pile, and the pile still stands even and lustrous from selvedge to selvedge with no low spots and no repairs. The drawing follows the classic central Persian formula: red field, navy lobed medallion, ivory center. It ships with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

A lobed navy medallion sits dead center with an ivory cartouche inside it and a sky blue 8 petal rosette at its heart, finished top and bottom with slender pendants. The same navy and ivory logic repeats in the 4 corner spandrels, so the eye reads the medallion and corner layout instantly even across nearly 16 feet. Everything between is an all over floral field: palmettes, curling serrated leaves, rosettes and small blossoms carried on a fine arabesque vine that never repeats in an obvious block. The wide navy main border alternates large cusped palmettes with scrolling vine, and 4 narrow guard stripes in sky blue and ivory step the pattern out to the edge, with the corners turned cleanly rather than cut off.

The Color Palette in Detail

The field is a warm tomato red, clear and even, with the slight lift toward brick that good Kashan wool takes as it ages. Against it the medallion, spandrels and main border are deep indigo navy, close to black where the pile lies away from the light. The ivory in the medallion center and the corner grounds is a soft cream rather than a bleached white, which keeps the contrast rich instead of harsh. Scattered through the field are saffron gold, olive green, sky blue, rose pink and small hits of apricot orange, with fine ivory and black outlining that separates every flower head from the red ground. The sky blue guard stripe running the full perimeter is the detail that lightens the whole rug.

Kashan: The Town and the Weave

Kashan sits in central Persia north of Isfahan and has been weaving since the Safavid court workshops, which is why the town owns the red field, navy medallion, ivory spandrel formula that the rest of the world copies. The local wool is soft and lustrous and takes dye deeply, and a well made persian kashan rug holds its color for generations. The back of this one shows tight, regular knotting on a cotton warp and weft, the sign of an experienced town weaver working a full cartoon rather than improvising. If you want proof of how familiar this look is, when you watch Shark Tank there is a Persian Kashan on the floor.