9'8" x 12'6" Persian Kashan Rug | Red Floral Medallion | Semi-Antique Wool Pile, Excellent Condition

This is the classic central Persian formula done properly: a red field packed with flowering vine, a lobed ivory and graphite black medallion at the center, and a wide dark border that frames the whole thing without crowding it. At 9'8" x 12'6" it is a true room-size piece that lays flat and square, with a tight 3/8" wool pile that still has body and sheen in the corners and along the edges. The ivory cotton fringe is original and even, the selvages are intact, and the drawing stays symmetrical from end to end, which is what separates a good workshop weave from a quick one. If you have been comparing 10x13 Persian rugs, this one sits in the sweet spot of age, color and condition, and it ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming it as a hand-knotted Persian Kashan rug.

Design and Motifs

The center holds a diamond-shaped medallion built in three layers: a small teal blue rosette core, an ivory cartouche drawn with curling leaves and pink blossoms, and a graphite black surround filled with palmettes and fine arabesque scroll. Around it the field is a dense all over lattice of vine, rosettes, serrated leaves and small cypress-like sprays, drawn at a scale where you can pick out individual flower heads from standing height. Four ivory corner spandrels repeat the medallion vocabulary in miniature and pin the composition in place at the 4 corners. The border system is a full set of 7 bands: a narrow red outer stripe, matched teal guard borders carrying a running flower chain, two ivory meander bands, and a broad dark main border of linked palmettes and rose medallions connected by heavy brown vine. The detail photo of the border corner shows how cleanly the pattern turns the corner, which is a reliable tell of a drawn cartoon rather than improvised village work.

A Study in Red, Ivory and Graphite Black

The field is a warm madder-toned red that leans slightly to raspberry in daylight and deepens toward brick under lamplight. Against it, the graphite black of the medallion surround and the main border reads almost blue-black where the pile catches the light, giving the rug its formal weight. Ivory does the lifting: the medallion core, the corner spandrels and the two meander bands are a soft unbleached cream rather than a bright white, so the contrast is rich instead of harsh. Secondary tones are where the weaver had fun, with teal and sky blue in the guard stripes and flower centers, rose pink and old gold in the palmettes, olive and moss green in the leaf work, and small touches of camel brown in the vine. There is gentle abrash across the red, a natural shift in dye lots that moves in soft horizontal bands and tells you the yarn was dyed in small batches. Buyers working around mahogany, cherry or dark walnut furniture, or looking for a grounding anchor in a cream or oatmeal room, should look at this against other red and burgundy Persian rugs.

Kashan: The Weaving Town and the Weave

Kashan sits in central Persia, north of Isfahan, and its weavers inherited the Safavid court workshop tradition: a drawn design, a curved and flowing line, and soft lustrous local wool spun fine enough to carry small floral detail. The formula on this rug, red field with a navy to black lobed medallion and ivory spandrels, is the Kashan signature, and it is the single most recognizable Persian design in American homes. It is the Shark Tank rug: when you watch Shark Tank there is a Persian Kashan on the floor. On the weave itself, the ruler photograph shows the knot rows running fine and perfectly straight across the end border, with a cotton foundation beaten down tight enough that the back stays crisp and the pile sits upright at 3/8". That density is why these rugs survive decades of real traffic, and why a 9'8" x 12'6" Kashan in excellent condition still has a long working life ahead of it under a dining table or a seating group.