9'6" x 13'2" Persian Moud Rug | Signed Ivory Herati Fish Design | Excellent Condition

This is a signed Persian Moud in a true room size, 9'6" x 13'2", woven on a cotton foundation with a close-cropped 3/8" wool pile that holds the drawing sharp across every inch of the field. The weaver finished the border with a small ivory cartouche carrying a woven signature, which on a Moud almost always means the piece left a named workshop rather than an anonymous loom. The pile is even end to end, the selvages are tight, and the condition is excellent, which is unusual on a rug of this footprint. It sits naturally in the 10x13 Persian rugs range, covering a full seating group or a 10 seat dining table with chairs pulled out. Every rug we ship carries a certificate of authenticity documenting origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The field is a classic Herati, known in Persia as mahi or fish: a lattice of small rosettes, each one framed by four curved lanceolate leaves that read like fish circling a pond. Moud weavers draw this motif smaller and tighter than almost anyone else, and here the repeat runs edge to edge in a disciplined all-over pattern that never loses its line. Floating over it is a round starburst medallion with a dark cusped center, a ring of serrated rays and slender pendants reaching toward each end. Four large spandrels anchor the corners, filled with the same fine lattice on a darker ground so the ivory field reads as an oval. The main border carries linked palmettes and turtle rosettes, flanked by narrow reciprocal guard stripes, and the small ivory signature cartouche sits within them at one end.

Color Palette

The ground is a warm ivory, closer to unbleached cream than white, and it is dusted throughout with light sky blue, soft rose and walnut brown from the tiny Herati rosettes, which is why the whole field reads as a shimmering multi color surface rather than a flat ivory. The medallion core is a deep near black navy filled with pale blue and ivory florets, ringed by a halo of dusty rose and madder red rays. Corner spandrels repeat that dark navy brown, giving the composition its weight. The main border is a clear brick red, warmer and lighter than the medallion, carrying ivory palmettes with touches of green, sky blue and rust. Guard stripes alternate pale blue and ivory, and the outermost stripe returns to red, framing the whole piece cleanly.

Origin and Weave

Moud is a small weaving town in Khorasan, northeastern Persia, near Birjand, and it sits in the same regional tradition as Persian Mashad rugs a few hundred miles north. What separates Moud from the rest of Khorasan is fineness: the looms there run a tighter knot count than most village work, which is exactly what the miniature Herati repeat demands, since the motif collapses into mush at a coarse weave. The wool is spun fine and clipped low so the pattern stays legible, and the cotton warp and weft keep a rug this wide lying flat and square. Signed Moud pieces of this size are produced in small numbers, and they are collected for the same reason they are bought for a living room: the drawing is precise, the palette is quiet, and the construction is built to be walked on for decades.