9'9" x 13'8" Persian Kerman Rug | Rose Red Field, 8 Point Star Medallion | Excellent Condition

This is a full room size Persian Kerman measuring 9'9" x 13'8", hand-knotted on a cotton foundation with a 3/8" wool pile that still stands straight and even across the whole field. The drawing is classic Kerman city work: a single 8 point star medallion set dead center on an open rose red ground, with a scattering of small flower sprays and leafy bouquets filling the field instead of a dense all over vine. The pile reads clean and glossy in the photographs, the selvages are intact and the ends are sound, which is why the condition is graded Excellent. It sits naturally in the 10x14 Persian rugs range, the size most buyers want for a large living room or a long dining table. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming it is a genuine hand-knotted Persian piece.

Design and Motifs

The center medallion is built as an 8 point star on a navy ground, outlined first in ivory and then in a light blue meander, with a small rosette at its core ringed by pink lotus blossoms and curling cream palmettes. Four large stepped star shaped spandrels reach in from the corners and read like a second layer of the same geometry, so the whole field is organized around repeated 8 point stars rather than a single lobed cartouche. Between them the open red ground carries tall bouquets of carnations, lilies and small 6 petal flowers, each one drawn on its own with air around it, plus a pair of boteh forms tucked into the side spandrels. The main border is a navy ground with an ivory and light blue arabesque vine, punctuated by floral rosette panels at the 4 corners and at the mid points of each side, framed by narrow guard stripes of trailing flowerheads. It is a formal, symmetrical layout that is easy to live with because the field is not crowded.

A Rose Red Field With Navy, Ivory and Soft Blue

The dominant color is a rose red, a touch cooler and pinker than a Kashan brick red, and it covers the open field so the eye registers the rug as red from across the room. Against it sits the deep navy of the medallion and the main border, which gives the design its weight and keeps the red from going flat. The drawing itself is carried in ivory and cream, with a pale sky blue used for the vine outlines and many of the flower petals, a clear rose pink for the lotus and carnation heads, and olive and sage green for the leaves and stems. Small touches of tan and soft gold appear in the guard stripes and in the outer edges of the corner spandrels. The overall effect is warm but not heavy, and the pink and blue mix makes this piece sit comfortably with both traditional mahogany furniture and lighter upholstery. If this palette is what you are after, see the rest of our red and burgundy Persian rugs.

Kerman Weaving in Southeast Persia

Kerman lies in the southeast of Persia, on the edge of the high desert, and has been one of the great workshop centers of the country for centuries. Kerman weavers work from a full cartoon drawn by a designer, use an asymmetric knot on a cotton foundation and favor soft local wool that takes dye evenly, which is why Kerman rugs are known for subtle shading and for curved, draftsman like floral drawing rather than village angularity. The town's signature contributions are elaborate pictorial and garden borders and the open medallion field you see here, where the pattern is allowed to breathe. The back of this rug shows a regular, tidy knot structure with clean color definition and no abrash breaks through the field, the mark of a competent town workshop rather than a quick commercial weave. At 9'9" x 13'8" it took a long time on the loom, and the even pile height across all 13 feet of length tells you it was woven and sheared with care.