12'10" x 13' Persian Bijar Square Rug | Concentric Hexagon Medallion | Navy and Ivory Herati | Red Palmette Border
Large square Bijars are hard to find, and this one measures 12'10" x 13', close enough to a true square to anchor a big square room, a center hall or a round dining table with space to spare on every side. It is hand-knotted in wool pile on a cotton foundation at approximately 450 to 500 knots per square inch, a very fine count for Bijar that gives the herati pattern crisp, small-scale detail. The rug has never been used, is in excellent condition and comes with a certificate of authenticity. It is one of the standout pieces among our oversize Persian rugs.
Please Note About the Photographs:
The soft waves and light lines visible across the surface in some photos are fold marks from shipping, not wear. A Bijar this dense holds a fold for a while, but the marks relax once the rug lies flat, and every rug is steamed and pressed before it ships.
Design and Motifs
The layout works like a set of nested frames, and the square format lets each one sit perfectly centered. A navy hexagon forms the core, wrapped in a bright ivory hexagonal ring with a small pendant at its top and bottom. Around that spreads a broad rose red field shaped as an elongated octagon, which is in turn enclosed by a deep navy octagonal band. Ivory triangles fill the 4 corners. Every one of these zones is covered with the same fine herati repeat, the rosette-and-leaf unit Bijar weavers also call mahi, so the design changes through color alone rather than through different motifs. The red main border carries ivory palmettes linked by dark scrolling vines with olive leaves, held between narrow guard stripes, and frames the concentric field on all 4 sides.
Navy, Ivory and Rose Red
Color does the heavy lifting in this design. Navy blue appears twice, in the center hexagon and in the outer octagonal band, and those 2 dark zones give the rug its depth. Between them, the ivory ring and the ivory corners act as highlights: they catch the light and pull the eye outward from the center to the edges in steps. The main field is a soft red with salmon and pink in it, warmer and lighter than the brick reds of most Bijars, so the rug reads as rose red from across the room. Black draws the fine outlines of the herati lattice, and beige softens the ivory areas so they never look stark. Forest green and olive run through the leaves of the herati units and the vines of the border, gold and brown appear in the palmette centers, and sky blue dots the rosettes throughout, small accents that show up close but blend into the overall palette at a distance.
Why Bijar Rugs Last
Bijar weavers in the Kurdish highlands of western Persia are known for an unusually forceful technique: each row of knots is packed down hard with a heavy comb, often while the wool is still damp, so the finished rug is thick, rigid and very heavy. That is the reason the trade calls Bijar the iron rug of Persia, and why a good Bijar shrugs off the foot traffic and furniture weight that would flatten a softer weave. Fine Bijars like this one combine that toughness with a high knot count, which is less common and lets the herati read almost like embroidery. To see the range of formats and palettes, browse our Persian Bijar rugs; very few of them are square, and fewer still are this large, which makes this navy and rose red piece a true rarity.
