9'11" x 13'2" Persian Tabriz Rug | Light Turquoise Field with Rose Medallion | Excellent Condition

Turquoise is the hardest ground color to get right in a Persian rug, because the dye has to stay clean and cool while carrying warm reds and golds on top of it, and this Tabriz does it. The field is a soft light turquoise blue, almost silvered in flat light and greener where daylight falls across the pile, and it is left deliberately open so the drawing has room to breathe. A rose and ivory medallion sits dead center, flanked by tall palmette sprays above and below, with big feathered leaf bouquets marking the 4 corners of the field. At 9'11" x 13'2" it belongs with the classic 10x13 Persian rugs that anchor a full seating group without crowding it. Hand-knotted in wool on a cotton foundation and in excellent condition, it ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The layout is a classic Tabriz medallion composition drawn in the curvilinear style rather than the angular village manner. The center is an ivory cartouche holding a small rosette and paired palmettes, ringed by a rose pink halo and then by a dense wreath of crimson curling leaves, scrolling acanthus and tiny blossoms, the whole medallion outlined in saffron gold arabesques that spill outward into the open ground. Directly above and below it stand crested palmette finials, each a shield of red and pink flowerheads capped in gold. The field itself carries free-standing bouquets: sprays of carnations, roses and serrated leaves, slender flowering stems, and the large curling feather leaves that fill the 4 corners and echo the border rhythm. The main border is a deep red band of alternating blossoms and leaf tendrils, framed inside and out by ivory guard stripes carrying a continuous meander of small flowerheads, with a fine saw-tooth stripe at the outer edge. Nothing is repeated mechanically, and the corners resolve cleanly, which is the mark of a properly worked cartoon.

A Light Turquoise Palette Built on Red and Gold

The ground is the story. It is a pale turquoise blue with a green cast, the tone of oxidized copper or sea glass, and because the field is largely undecorated you see the wool's natural abrash shift gently across the width. Against it the border runs a deep brick red to burgundy, warm and slightly oxidized rather than bright, which pushes the turquoise forward instead of fighting it. The medallion works in a narrower range: rose pink and salmon at the heart, ivory and cream in the center cartouche and guard stripes, crimson in the surrounding leafwork, with navy blue used sparingly on flower centers and leaf outlines to hold the drawing crisp. Saffron gold and pale wheat carry the arabesques and the corner leaves, and small touches of forest green, chestnut brown and soft peach appear inside the blossoms. It is a cool room with warm furniture, or a dark floor that needs lifting, and it sits comfortably with both antique mahogany and clean modern upholstery.

Tabriz Weaving in Northwest Persia

Tabriz sits in Azerbaijan province in the northwest of Persia and has been the country's most organized weaving city for centuries, the place where the workshop system, the professional designer and the paper cartoon all became standard practice. Tabriz weavers count fineness in Raj, the number of knots across roughly 2.75 inches of width, and the city's output spans everything from sturdy commercial grades to collector pieces well above 60 Raj. This rug belongs to the well-made decorative range: a Turkish knot on a cotton warp and weft, a pile clipped low enough to keep the fine floral drawing legible, and firm enough handle that the rug lies flat and takes furniture without distortion. The back photograph, shot with a ruler across the pile, shows an even, disciplined knot line with no skipped rows, which is why the curves in the medallion stay round rather than stepping. Excellent condition throughout, with full pile and clean, secure ends and edges.