9'9" x 13' Persian Mashad Rug | Esfahan Floral Medallion Design | 1980s, Perfect Condition

Laid out flat, this 9'9" x 13' room size weaving reads like a formal garden under glass: a burgundy field packed edge to edge with curling vine, a teal and indigo starburst medallion holding the center, and a deep navy border wrapping the whole composition. It was woven in Mashad in the 1980s in the floral Esfahan manner, which is exactly what the better Khorasan workshops of that decade were known for, and it has the dense 3/8" wool pile and heavy handle that go with that work. If you are shopping 10x13 Persian rugs for a large living room or a long dining table, this is a piece that holds a big floor without going flat or busy. It ships with our certificate of authenticity confirming origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The field is an all over floral lattice rather than a plain open ground: thin pale blue vines loop continuously from one end to the other, throwing off palmettes, serrated olive leaves, small rosettes and tulip shaped buds in gold and ivory. At the center sits a radiating medallion built in concentric rings of petals, with a pink and ivory rosette boss at its heart and a ring of lobed points reaching out into the field, the sort of drawing the Isfahan design tradition made famous and that Mashad looms interpreted in a slightly bolder, heavier hand. Four corner spandrels in dark blue mirror the medallion's floral vocabulary and square off the field. The border system runs five bands deep: a wide navy main border of alternating palmettes and leafy vine, flanked by mid blue minor borders of repeating blossoms and separated by narrow ivory and red guard stripes that keep each band legible.

Color Palette

The ground is a true burgundy with a raspberry cast under bright light, deep enough to anchor furniture yet clear rather than brown, which is what puts it among the more usable burgundy Persian rugs in this size. Against it, the medallion moves from peacock teal and turquoise at the middle out through indigo petal tips, which is the coolest and brightest point on the rug and the first thing the eye lands on. The vine work is drawn in a soft sky blue, almost chalky where it crosses the red, while the leaves carry a dark olive green and the blossoms pick up saffron gold, apricot, ivory and small flashes of rose pink. The main border swings the other way, a near black navy that makes the gold and green border flowers glow, with ivory guard stripes and a narrow brick red outline framing the edges. Ends finish in natural ivory cotton fringe.

Mashad Origin and Weave Quality

Mashad is the great weaving city of Khorasan in northeast Persia, and its looms have always worked on a large scale, which is why so many genuine room size and oversize pieces come out of that region. Persian Mashad weaving is built around local Khorasan wool, long stapled and lustrous, knotted at a comfortable density on a cotton foundation and left with a pile of around 3/8" so the rug has weight and spring underfoot. The reverse of this one shows clean, even rows and a tight, regular knot across the full 13' length, with no curl, no slack selvage and no patching. The drawing stays disciplined from end to end, the medallion is centered and the border corners resolve properly, all signs of a workshop piece drawn from a cartoon rather than a village improvisation. After roughly 40 years the pile still stands full and the colors have settled into that mellow, lived in depth that only time gives a wool rug.