13x15 Persian Bijar Rug | Rare Allover Herati, No Medallion | 440-460 KPSI

In nearly 40 years of importing Persian Bijar rugs, we have almost never seen this combination: an allover herati design with no medallion, woven at 440 to 460 knots per square inch, in a full 12'11" x 15'1" format. Bijars of this size are scarce to begin with, and the overwhelming majority carry a central medallion. A medallion-free field at this fineness and scale may well be unique on the market today. The rug has never been used, the pile stands full and springy across every inch, and it ships with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The entire field is given over to the herati pattern, also called the mahi or fish pattern, repeated in an unbroken diamond lattice from border to border. Each unit holds a central rosette framed by 4 curling leaves, the "fish" that give the design its name, connected by a fine vine grid that keeps the repeat perfectly aligned across more than 15 feet of weaving. Holding that alignment over a field this large, without a medallion to anchor the eye or hide a drift in the drawing, is the mark of a disciplined workshop. The main border answers with rounded palmettes on gray-blue tracery, flanked by twin charcoal guard borders of scrolling flowerheads, 7 bands in all.

A Study in Ivory and Brick Red

The field reads as warm ivory from across the room, but up close it is a dense weave of color: navy lattice lines, brick red and salmon blossoms, olive green rosette centers, and small sparks of light blue and rose scattered through the repeat. The main border shifts the balance to a rich brick red ground, where cream palmettes, olive flowerheads, and soft gray-blue arabesques stand out against near-black navy guard bands. The palette is classic Bijar, deep, saturated vegetable-style tones that read formal in the evening and surprisingly light by day, and the ivory ground makes the rug far brighter underfoot than the typical red-field Bijar.

Bijar, the Iron Rug of Persia

Bijar sits in the Kurdish highlands of western Persia, and its weavers are famous for a technique no other town uses with the same force: after each row of knots, the wefts are beaten down with a heavy metal comb until the fabric is nearly solid. The result is the densest, most durable handmade rug in Persia, the reason dealers call Bijars the iron rugs. Most Bijar work is village weaving well under 200 knots per square inch. This piece, at 440 to 460, sits at the very top of what the town's best workshops produce, combining that legendary iron construction with genuinely fine drawing. For a room that needs a rug near 13 by 15 feet, oversize Persian rugs of this quality come to market perhaps once in a generation, and this one will outlast the house it lands in.