9'7" x 13'4" Persian Kashan Rug | Open Red Field Kerman Style Medallion | 1980s Dense Wool

This is a room-filling 1980s piece from central Persia, and the first thing you notice is how much red is left alone. Most weavers fill every inch; here the ground is an unbroken cherry red that runs from the medallion out to the spandrels, so the eye rests before it reaches the drawing. The wool is thick, a full 3/8" pile knotted on a cotton foundation, and it has the soft glow that good Kashan fleece develops as it ages. Detailed prose on the town, the fleece and the classic formula sits in our Persian Kashan rugs guide. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming it is hand-knotted in Persia.

Design and Motifs

The centre carries a navy lobed medallion built in three layers: an ivory core holding an 8 petal rosette in turquoise and rose, a ring of pink blossoms and turquoise palmettes, and an outer navy lobe edged in saffron outline. Above and below it, slender pendants climb into the open ground and finish in small vases of blossom, a drawing convention borrowed from the Kerman rugs tradition and worked here in the Kashan hand. The 4 corners answer the medallion with deep navy spandrels of scrolling vine, cypress-like leaf forms and cream cartouche fills, and the arched line where the spandrels meet the field is scalloped rather than straight. Three borders frame the whole: a wide navy main band of alternating rosettes and curled arabesques, flanked by turquoise guard stripes of small repeating flower heads. At 9'7" x 13'4" it sits squarely in the 10x13 Persian rugs range, large enough that the open field becomes the feature of the room.

A Cherry Red Field Against Navy and Turquoise

The field is a clear cherry red with a faint raspberry cast, brighter and cooler than the brick reds of village weaving, and because it is undecorated the wool's own luster does most of the work. Against it the borders and medallion go almost black-blue, a dense indigo navy that gives the design its weight. The lift comes from turquoise: pale aqua guard stripes, brighter teal petals inside the medallion, and teal-green leaf forms scattered through the vine work. Ivory and cream hold the medallion core and the corner cartouches, while saffron gold, apricot orange and soft rose pink appear in the rosettes and the small blossom sprays that drift out onto the red. It is a warm, saturated palette that belongs with dark wood and reads beautifully in the broader family of red and burgundy rugs.

Kashan Weaving and the Quality of This Piece

Kashan lies in central Persia north of Isfahan, and its weaving descends directly from the Safavid court workshops. The town's reputation rests on two things: soft lustrous local fleece, and a curvilinear drawing discipline that holds a true arc across a rug this wide. When you watch Shark Tank there is a Persian Kashan on the floor, which tells you how deep this look sits in the way Americans picture a good rug. This example is a workshop weave from the 1980s on a cotton foundation, with a dense 3/8" wool pile that has stayed full and even edge to edge, clean selvedges and original fringe. Pieces of this age are old enough to have settled and softened but far from worn, and if you want to understand how weavers and dealers read a rug's period, see our notes on how to date an oriental rug.