9'9" x 13' Persian Tabriz Rug | Rich Red Open Field | Vintage 1980s Floral Medallion

This 9'9" x 13' Persian Tabriz rug was hand-knotted in wool in the 1980s and has come through the decades in excellent shape, with a full even pile, tight selvedges and clean original fringe at both ends. The composition is the confident workshop formula of northwest Persia: one lobed medallion set on a broad open field of ruby red, weighted corner spandrels in ivory and turquoise, and a deep navy main border to close the whole thing off. It measures just under 10 feet by 13 feet, which puts it squarely in the range buyers shop when they look at 10x13 Persian rugs for a main room. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity stating origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The center holds an 8 petal star rosette in cream and red, ringed by a cartouche band of rose pink and navy palmettes that steps outward into a lobed medallion with small hooked returns. A slender pendant reaches from each end of the medallion toward the field, finishing in a shield-shaped floral drop. Around it the red ground is left largely open, scattered only with loose bouquets of roses, carnations and forget-me-nots so the eye keeps returning to the center. The 4 corner spandrels are the most inventive part of the drawing: large curled paisley and leaf forms in turquoise and ivory, filled with rosette clusters and outlined in rose, which reads as a soft frame rather than a hard corner. The main border runs alternating navy cartouches and turquoise-blue rosette panels on an ivory ground, separated by small checkerboard squares, and is held between narrow guard stripes of pink meandering vine. It is a curvilinear cartoon-drawn pattern throughout, with every scroll and petal mirrored across both axes.

The Color Palette: Ruby Field, Indigo Border, Ivory Frame

The field is a true ruby red that leans slightly cherry where the light catches the pile and deepens toward wine in the shadows, a natural sheen from good wool rather than any change in dye. Against it the border sits in a deep indigo navy that reads almost black at the cartouche centers, giving the rug its weight and framing the open ground cleanly. Ivory and pale cream carry the border ground and the spandrels, which keeps the whole composition from going heavy. Inside those light areas the secondary colors do the work: turquoise and soft sky blue in the paisley scrolls, rose pink and salmon in the flower heads, sage and olive green in the leafwork, and small hits of apricot and gold in the rosette centers. The result is a red rug that is warm rather than loud, and it sits easily with dark wood, brass, leather and cream upholstery.

Tabriz Weaving in Northwest Persia

Tabriz has been a commercial and court weaving center for centuries, and its workshops built their reputation on drawing: rugs are woven from a scaled cartoon so curved lines stay curved and a medallion of this size stays symmetrical from one end of a 13 foot rug to the other. Fineness there is measured in Raj, knots per gereh across the width, with roughly 40 Raj as solid commercial work and 50 Raj and above as fine workshop weaving. This piece is a well-made room-size example of that tradition, knotted in wool on a cotton foundation with a firm handle, straight sides and a pile that has held its density after 40 years. Tabriz wool is tough and takes a clear dye, which is why rugs from this group survive decades of real use in a living room or under a dining table and still photograph with the depth you see here.