9'8" x 13'8" Persian Kashan Rug | Gold All Over Floral Field | 1980s Semi-Antique

A room size piece from the 1980s, this rug belongs to the classic tradition of Persian Kashan rugs, though it breaks from the usual formula by leaving out the central medallion entirely. Instead the full 9'8" x 13'8" field is given over to one continuous flowering vine system, drawn in soft natural wool on a cotton foundation and finished with hand-tied fringe at both ends. Four decades of use have burnished the pile to a low sheen, and the wool still feels dense and springy underfoot rather than dry. It ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming origin, age and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The field carries an all over repeat built from curling split leaves, feathered saz foliage and open palmettes, all linked by a thin vine that never quite closes into a grid. Rosettes sit at the junction points, some drawn as flat 8 petal blossoms, others as full lobed palmettes with an inner heart in rust. Between them the weaver scattered small carnations, tulip buds and paired leaf sprays, which keeps the surface reading as a garden rather than a pattern. The main border runs a reciprocal vine of large cartouche-shaped palmettes alternating with arabesque scrollwork, flanked by 4 narrow guard bands of running flowerheads and dotted meander. Corners are resolved cleanly, with the border drawing turning the angle without the motif being cut off, which is a good sign of a competently set-up cartoon rather than an improvised village copy.

A Gold Field With Green, Rust and Blue Accents

The ground is a warm honey gold that shifts slightly lighter and darker across the width, the natural abrash of small dye lots rather than any fault. Against it the vinework is drawn mostly in deep pine and sage green, with the darker outlines reading almost charcoal where the pile lies one way and clearly green where it lies the other. Accents come in soft rust and terracotta at the flower centres, a pale powder blue on the leaf tips and in the smaller rosettes, and cream to ivory where the drawing needs to lift off the gold. The main border drops to a light beige, almost oatmeal, which cools the whole composition and stops the gold from dominating. Fringes are natural ivory. Overall the palette sits in the warm neutral range and works easily with wood floors, cream walls and both antique and transitional furniture.

Kashan: The Weaving Town and the Quality of the Weave

Kashan sits in central Persia, north of Isfahan, and its looms trace back to the Safavid court workshops. The town built its name on soft lustrous local wool and on precise curvilinear drawing, which is exactly what you get here: fine wefting, a moderately close weave and a pile short enough to hold the detail of each palmette. The classic Kashan formula is a red field with a navy medallion, and it is the rug you see on the floor when you watch Shark Tank, so a gold ground with no medallion at all is the less common variant and the harder one to source in a true room size. If you are comparing pieces at this scale, it sits in our 10x14 Persian rugs group, wide enough to take a full seating arrangement with all legs on the rug.