9'5" x 12'8" Persian Bijar Rug | Wool | Beige and Blue

A 9'5" x 12'8" Bijar knotted by hand in Persia in the 1970s, with a wool pile and a rectangular format. At a glance it reads as a pale camel-beige field carrying a long hexagonal medallion of dark indigo, framed by a wide border of medium blue. The drawing is small in scale and repeats right across the rug, so the medallion registers as a change of ground colour before it registers as a shape.

The design

The field is filled edge to edge with a Herati repeat: a diamond lattice with a rosette at each crossing and four curved leaves turned outward from it, the motif that Bijar weavers use at this fine a scale. The same lattice continues without a break through the elongated hexagonal medallion and through the two corner spandrels, which are marked off only by a narrow outlined band and a shift of ground. The main border is drawn on a lighter blue and carries paired boteh leaning toward each other, alternating with small footed vases and star flowers, with a cream vine running between them. Two guard stripes on a camel brown ground hold eight-petal rosettes and dark quatrefoils, and a plain camel outer edge finishes the rug before the ivory cotton fringe.

The colour

The field ground is a warm camel beige that pales toward the border and deepens to soft brown across the medallion, where the light catches the pile at an angle. Against it the blue works at three strengths: near-black indigo in the medallion outline and lattice, a clear mid blue through the main border, and a chalky pale blue in the small rosettes of the guard stripes. Rust and a darker madder red pick out flowerheads and the centres of the boteh, with ivory used sparingly as an outline so the small motifs stay legible at floor distance. The overall effect is quiet, the reds occupying very little surface area.

The making

Hand-knotted in wool, with a dense, short pile that holds the fine Herati drawing without blurring it; the close-up photographs show the knot nodes and the sharp dark outlines around each rosette. The back, visible in the final image alongside the dealer tag, shows an even weave and a flat, firm handle. The table dates it to the 1970s, which places it among the semi-antique pieces, and the condition is recorded as excellent, with full pile and both fringes intact. It sits with the heavier, tightly drawn end of the hand-knotted stock.