9'11" x 12'7" Persian Moud Rug | All-Over Herati Design | Semi-Antique Rust Red & Navy

This is a full room size hand-knotted Persian Moud rug measuring 9'11" x 12'7", woven in wool on a cotton foundation and carrying the all-over Herati drawing that the weavers of eastern Persia are known for. It has the quiet confidence of a piece that was made to be lived with: a low, even pile with no thin areas, straight sides, original ivory cotton fringe at both ends, and colors that have settled into that mellow semi-antique tone wool only reaches with age. Laid out flat in our warehouse it reads as a true 10x13 Persian rug, large enough to carry a seating group or a 10 seat dining table with all chairs pulled back. Every rug we ship leaves Freeport with a certificate of authenticity recording its origin, materials and measurements.

Design and Motifs

The field is an uninterrupted all-over Herati pattern, the classic diamond lattice in which each compartment holds a central rosette framed by 4 curved sickle leaves, the motif collectors also call mahi or the fish pattern. The lattice lines are drawn in dark green and deep blue, so the repeat stays crisp instead of dissolving into the ground, and the rosettes alternate between blue, ivory, gold and soft apricot so no two neighboring compartments read the same. Small 8 petal flower heads and tiny stepped diamonds fill the gaps between the leaves, which is what gives the field its busy, jewel-like surface in the close detail photographs. The main border is a navy ground carrying alternating rust palmettes and ivory blossoms linked by a flowering vine, set between light blue guard stripes drawn with small butterfly blossoms and a saw-tooth minor band in gold. The 4 corners resolve cleanly, a good sign of a weaver working from a well-drawn cartoon rather than improvising at the end of each run.

Color Palette

The ground is a warm rust red that leans orange under daylight and reads closer to terracotta or brick in lamplight, with a gentle abrash running across the width where the dye lots shift, exactly the variation you want to see in a naturally dyed wool field. Against it the drawing is worked in two distinct blues, a mid cornflower blue in the rosettes and a deep indigo navy in the lattice and the main border, and the contrast between those blues and the rust ground is what gives the rug its depth from across a room. Ivory appears in the sickle leaves, the border blossoms and the outer guard band, lifting the whole surface and keeping the red from going heavy. Accents of saffron gold, bottle green, soft pink and a muted aubergine appear in the smaller flower heads, while a plain rust red outer edge frames everything and matches the red and burgundy Persian rugs many buyers are already decorating around.

Moud Weaving and Origin

Moud, also spelled Mood or Mud, is a weaving village in the Khorasan province of eastern Persia, in the Birjand district, and its workshops built their reputation on one thing: disciplined Herati drawing executed in durable highland wool on a tightly tensioned cotton warp. Moud weavers tend to keep their knot count well above ordinary village work and their pile clipped low, which is why a Moud holds its pattern definition for generations and why these rugs are so often bought as the single permanent floor covering for a main room. The wool from this region is springy and takes dye deeply, so the reds stay saturated rather than turning pale. On this piece the handle is firm, the selvages are intact and the back shows clean, regular knotting with no repiling, consistent with a piece that was woven with care and then kept rather than worn out.