9'9" x 13'6" Persian Isfahan Rug | Ivory Medallion Field | Wool and Silk on Silk, Approx. 500 KPSI, Never Used

This is a workshop piece from the 1980s that was rolled and stored rather than used, and the pile still stands up the way it did on the loom. Measuring 9'9" x 13'6", the Persian Isfahan rug is knotted in wool with silk highlights over a silk foundation at roughly 500 knots per square inch, which is the density Isfahan needs to draw a curve properly. The ivory field is untouched by traffic, the ends are secure, and the silk warps give the back the tight, papery feel collectors look for. It ships with our certificate of authenticity, and at this size it sits squarely in the 10x14 Persian rugs range that most large formal rooms are cut for.

Design and Motifs

The center holds a 16 point star medallion built in 3 concentric zones: a camel core carrying a small ivory rosette, a navy ring of leafy vines, and a red outer lobe filled with palmettes and buds. From the medallion the field opens into a lattice of scrolling arabesque vines, each turn ending in a lotus palmette, a serrated leaf or a small 8 petal rosette, and the drawing repeats in perfect mirror across both axes. Navy spandrels anchor the 4 corners, each one filled with a large cloud band arabesque in ivory and gray outline. The border system runs 5 bands deep: a red main border of alternating palmettes and flowering stems, flanked by ivory turtle guard stripes and 2 narrow navy meander bands. The detail photograph of the corner shows how cleanly the border turns, which is the single hardest thing to resolve in a rug this large.

The Ivory, Red and Blue Palette

The field is a warm ivory that reads closer to unbleached cream than white, and the silk passes inside it catch light so the vinework brightens and dims as you walk past. Against that ground the weaver sets a brick red that runs from the main border into the medallion lobe, a deep inky navy for the spandrels, medallion ring and the thin meander stripes, and a clear sky blue used for individual petals, birds of paradise and leaf tips. Sage and olive green carry the stems and leaves, with smaller touches of camel, rose pink and soft gray in the palmette centers. Nothing in the palette is loud on its own, but the contrast between the ivory field and the red border frames the rug hard, which is why it photographs so well from across a room.

Isfahan Weaving and Quality

Isfahan sits in central Persia and has been the reference point for fine city weaving since the Safavid court workshops of the 16th century. Its reputation rests almost entirely on drawing, on the ability to run a vine in a true curve without it breaking into steps, and that only works when the knot count is high enough to hide the grid. At roughly 500 knots per square inch on silk warps, this piece has that resolution, and the pile is clipped low so the cartoon stays legible. The ruler shot shows the weave and the silk fringe, both consistent end to end, with no repairs, no reweaving and no color run. For a 9'9" x 13'6" Isfahan to survive 40 years unused, with full original pile, is uncommon, and it is the main reason this one is worth looking at closely.