9'6" x 13' Persian Khorasan Rug | All-Over Rose Floral on Ivory | 1980s Wool

This is a room-filling floral woven in northeast Persia in the 1980's, and it is the kind of piece people buy once and keep for forty years. The ivory wool ground is covered edge to edge with red roses, blue blossoms and dark green leaf sprays, with no medallion to dictate where the furniture goes, which is exactly why it works so well among the 10x13 Persian rugs buyers shop for large open rooms. The pile is full and soft underfoot, the borders are drawn cleanly on all 4 sides, and the condition is very good throughout. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming it is hand-knotted, wool pile, and woven in Persia.

Design and Motifs

The field is a true all-over floral composition: open roses and rosettes carried on thin brown vines, with feathered blue leaves, small buds and curling tendrils filling the spaces between them. The drawing repeats in offset rows rather than mirrored panels, so the eye keeps moving across the rug instead of stopping at a center point. Framing it are 5 bands. A wide ivory main border carries large red rosettes alternating with dark blue leaf clusters, an inner camel-gold band holds a row of small palmettes and boteh-like buds, and narrow navy guard stripes separate each one. The outermost band is a delicate ivory meander of green scrolls, a detail you only see up close and a good sign of a careful weaver. The corners resolve cleanly, with the border pattern turning properly at each one instead of being cut off.

Ivory, Red and Blue: The Color Story

The ground is an ivory that leans toward soft cream and light camel depending on how the light hits the pile, which gives the rug a warm rather than stark base. Over that sit 2 registers of red: a deep cherry red in the larger roses and a softer rose pink in the smaller blooms and petal tips, so the floral work reads with depth instead of as one flat tone. The blues do the balancing, moving from a pale sky blue in the leaf fans to a strong navy in the outlines and guard stripes. Dark green and near-black foliage sharpens every flower head, while small touches of apricot and gold appear in the flower centers and in the camel-gold border band. The overall effect is light and warm, which is why this reads as one of the more livable ivory Persian rugs for rooms with cream upholstery and dark wood.

Khorasan: Weaving in Northeast Persia

Khorasan is the large northeastern province of Persia, and its weaving capital is the city of Mashad, whose workshops set the standard for the region's curvilinear floral style. Rugs from this part of the country are known for long-staple local wool with a natural sheen, a cotton foundation, and a single-weft construction that keeps the handle supple and lets a large piece like this lie flat without fighting the floor. The back shows an even, regular knot across the full 13' length, with no slant or waist, which tells you the loom was properly tensioned and the weaver kept count across a job that would have taken many months. Pile depth is still generous, the selvages are intact and the ivory cotton fringe is original at both ends.