9'8" x 13'5" Persian Kashan Rug | Red Floral Medallion with Navy Border | Fine Wool, 1980s

This 9'8" x 13'5" Persian Kashan rug is a textbook example of the city's classical formula, worked at a generous room size that covers a 10 by 13 foot floor plan without crowding it. The pile is fine wool at 3/8 inch, knotted onto a cotton foundation, and the surface still carries the soft sheen that good Kashan wool develops with age. Woven in the 1980s and in perfect condition with full even pile corner to corner, it reads as a mature rug rather than a new one, with the slight color depth that only time gives. It ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming origin, materials and hand-knotted construction, and it sits comfortably among our 10x13 Persian rugs as one of the more traditional pieces in that size band.

Design and Motifs

A lobed central medallion sits in the middle of the field, built in concentric rings: a small turquoise rosette at the core, an ivory ring of curling leaves and tendrils around it, then a scalloped blue cradle that carries the shape outward. Above and below the medallion, slender blue pendants extend toward the ends and finish in small palmettes. The red ground around all of this is filled edge to edge with an all-over floral drawing of curved arabesque vines, serrated leaves, 8 petal rosettes and feathered palmettes, drawn with the curvilinear fluency Kashan looms are known for. The 4 corners are resolved with blue spandrels that mirror the medallion's scrollwork, and set into each corner is an ivory cartouche holding a dense little bouquet, a detail that gives the layout its formal, framed feeling. The main border is a wide navy band of meandering vine with alternating palmettes and flowering sprays, flanked by narrow guard stripes of repeating rosettes and paired leaves that keep the whole composition tidy.

Red Field, Indigo Borders and Ivory Accents

The field is a true crimson red, warm rather than orange, and it shifts slightly in tone as the light moves across the pile, which is the signature of hand-spun wool taking natural dye unevenly in the best way. Against it the borders go deep indigo blue, with a lighter teal and sky blue appearing in the guard stripes and in the open flowers scattered through the field. Ivory does the structural work: it lights up the medallion center, the 4 corner cartouches and the thin outlining of the vines, which is what keeps a dense red rug from reading as a solid mass. Olive and sage green run through the leaves and stems, with small hits of soft rose pink, golden yellow and aubergine in the border flowers. The closer detail shots show how many of these colors are actually in play, perhaps a dozen shades working at once, while from standing height the rug resolves into a confident red and blue statement that pairs easily with dark wood, brass and cream upholstery.

Kashan: Central Persia and the Weave Behind It

Kashan lies in central Persia, north of Isfahan, and its looms trace back to the Safavid court workshops that first set the standard for medallion and vine design. Local wool is soft and lustrous, which is why Kashan pile develops that quiet shine instead of going dull, and the town's weavers have kept the same disciplined drawing for generations: a cartoon followed closely, borders that align at the corners, and a medallion that sits true on the center axis. Look at the back of this piece in the detail photograph and the knotting is small, tight and regular, with straight even rows and no slack, the kind of structure that lets a rug of this size stay flat and take decades of real use. Kashan is also the most familiar Persian design in American rooms. When you watch Shark Tank there is a Persian Kashan on the floor, which is why so many buyers recognize this exact red field and navy border layout before they ever learn the name of the town that makes it.