9'2" x 13' Persian Esfahan Rug | Navy Blue Field, Ivory Floral Medallion | 1980s Fine Wool

This 9'2" x 13' Persian Esfahan rug was hand-knotted in the 1980s in fine wool on a cotton foundation, and it still reads like a rug that spent most of its life in a formal room and very little of it under traffic. The pile is full and even from end to end, the burgundy selvedge is intact, and the fringe is original. At 110" x 156" it is a true room-size piece that will sit under a 9 foot sofa or a 10 seat table without crowding, which puts it squarely in the range buyers search for when they shop large 9x13 Persian rugs. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity documenting the origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The drawing follows the classic Esfahan formula: a single rounded medallion floating on a densely worked field, with a matching pendant at each end and a quarter of that medallion repeated in all 4 corners as spandrels. The medallion core is an 8 petal rosette ringed by crimson and sky blue lotus buds, and from it the curved arabesque unwinds in fine brown and ivory outline. Around it the field carries an all-over system of palmettes, split leaves and rosettes linked by thin scrolling vines, drawn curvilinear rather than angular, which is the whole point of the Esfahan style and only holds together at a high knot count. The main border runs a continuous vine of large blossoms and turning leaves, flanked by narrow ivory guard stripes with a running flowerhead motif and thin burgundy outlines that pull the whole composition tight. Small square cartouche medallions sit in the inner corners, a quiet detail most weavers skip.

A Navy Field Framed in Sky Blue

The field is a deep navy blue, dark enough to read almost ink at a distance and warm enough up close to show the natural abrash of hand-dyed wool. Against it the medallion is beige shading into pale ivory, so it lifts off the ground the way a lamp lifts off a dark wall. The floral work is where the palette opens up: soft peach and rose pink blossoms, true red centers, camel and old gold leafwork, and a great deal of light sky blue that ties the field back to the border. That border is the surprise, a clear sky blue rather than the usual ivory or red, and it makes this one of the more unusual navy blue Persian rugs we have had on the floor. A narrow burgundy edge wraps the outside and repeats the red used inside the flowers, which is what keeps the two blues from going cold.

Esfahan Weaving and Quality

Esfahan sits in central Persia and has been a weaving center since the Safavid court workshops of the 16th century, when royal patronage set the standard the town still works to. Its reputation rests on drawing, the curved line, the flowing vine, the symmetry of a medallion that has to resolve identically on 4 sides, and none of that is possible on a coarse weave. This piece was woven in that tradition on a cotton foundation with a wool pile, knotted tightly enough that the reverse shows each motif clearly, as the close photographs of the back show. The wool has the slight sheen good Esfahan fleece keeps for decades, and after 40 years the pile still stands upright with no low spots or repairs. It is a workshop rug in the honest sense: designed on a cartoon, woven by a skilled hand, and built to outlast the room it goes in.