3'7" x 6' Persian Isfahan Rug | Ivory and Sky Blue Star Medallion | Kork Wool and Silk on Silk Foundation
Most fine Isfahans come in red and navy or ivory and navy. This one is built on blue. It is a 3'7" x 6' Persian Isfahan rug: an ivory field and a navy star medallion, set inside periwinkle spandrels and a bright cornflower main border. It is hand-knotted in kork wool and silk on a pure silk foundation, at 24 knots to the inch, or roughly 580 to 600 knots per square inch. The pile is short, dense and glossy, the drawing is clean right into the corners, and the piece has never been used. It ships with our certificate of authenticity.
Design and Motifs
The medallion is a 16 point star in deep navy, its arms filled with copper and sage arabesques. Inside them sits a sky blue ring of small blush rosettes, and at its heart a pale lotus flower with an ivory center. Above and below, navy shield-shaped pendants with blue palmette hearts lock the medallion into the length of the rug. Around it the ivory field is all motion: thin navy and sky blue vines spiral outward, carrying Shah Abbasi palmettes, small sage rosette clusters, curled blue leaves and tiny burgundy buds, mirrored precisely in all 4 quarters. Each corner opens into a periwinkle spandrel, edged in blush and copper arabesques, with an ivory lobed cartouche holding a lotus blossom in the very corner. The cornflower main border runs a chain of palmettes cradled in curling vine ovals. Two navy guard stripes of small blossoms and fine burgundy lines frame it, and the ivory silk fringe finishes both ends.
The Colors: Ivory, Cornflower Blue and Periwinkle
This palette sets the rug apart. The field is a soft, warm ivory, close to fresh cream, which keeps the center bright. The main border is a vivid cornflower blue, clear and saturated, and it brightens noticeably where the silk catches the light. Between the two, the spandrels shift to a gentler periwinkle, almost lavender-blue, so the eye moves from ivory to periwinkle to cornflower in 3 calm steps instead of jumping straight to a dark frame. Deep navy anchors the composition. It is used for the medallion's outer arms, the pendants, the vine work and both guard stripes. Sky blue lights the medallion's core and the turned leaves in the field. The accents are delicate: blush pink and rose in the palmettes and arabesques, olive and sage green in the leaves and rosettes, warm copper and rust in the outlines, and touches of burgundy in the buds and fine border lines. An ivory field with blue on blue framing like this turns up far less often than the usual red or navy Isfahan schemes.
Isfahan Weaving: Drawing on a Silk Foundation
Isfahan, in central Persia, built its name in the Safavid court workshops of the 16th century, and the city's weavers are still judged on one thing above all: drawing. Curves have to flow, vines have to stay unbroken and palmettes have to be precise, and that is only possible at a high knot count on a fine, stable foundation. That is why serious Isfahan workshops weave on silk. Silk warps are thin and strong, so knots pack tightly and the rug lies flat and square. Kork wool, the soft fleece from the neck and shoulders of the lamb, gives the pile its fine texture and natural sheen, and the silk highlights sharpen the detail. At 580 to 600 knots per square inch, this Persian Isfahan sits in true collector range. At 3'7" x 6' it is small enough to be studied up close, which is where work at this level shows best: on a bedroom floor, in a study or hung on a wall.
