3'9" x 5'6" Persian Isfahan Rug | Red Field Ivory Star Medallion | Wool and Silk on Silk Foundation
This is the kind of small rug serious buyers look for. It is a 3'9" x 5'6" Persian Isfahan rug, hand-knotted in wool and silk on a pure silk foundation at roughly 625 knots per square inch (25 knots across a single inch, both ways). The crimson field carries an ivory star medallion and a dense garden of palmettes and arabesque vines, framed by a sky blue main border with cartouches. Every outline is sharp and every curve holds its line, which is exactly what a silk foundation and a knot count like this buy you. It has never been used, the pile is full and even edge to edge, and it comes with our certificate of authenticity.
Design and Motifs
At the center sits a multi-lobed ivory medallion built like a starburst. A navy 8 point star at its core is wrapped in sky blue petals, rings of copper and green scrollwork, and small taupe quatrefoil flowers. Above and below, ivory palmette pendants with blue lotus hearts lead to lotus-shaped finials, so the medallion reads as one long, balanced column. Around it the red field is a classical Isfahan garden: large Shah Abbasi palmettes in olive, gold and blue, feathery white-edged blossoms, curling split-leaf arabesques and fine vines that interlace without ever crowding one another. In each corner a sky blue spandrel holds a taupe cloud-shaped cartouche with a small four-petal flower. The main border alternates mint, burgundy and ivory quatrefoil cartouches with lotus palmettes on scrolling vines. Two ivory guard stripes repeat a blue fleur motif inside copper and grey scrolls, and a narrow red band closes the frame.
The Colors: Crimson, Sky Blue and Ivory
The field is a deep crimson, a clean cherry red with a slight wine depth, saturated and even across the whole rug with no patchiness. Against it the sky blue does most of the work. It is a bright cornflower shade that fills the spandrels and the main border and runs through the field as petals and vine highlights, and the silk in the pile gives it a soft sheen when light rakes across it. Ivory is the third major tone, used for the medallion, the pendants and both guard stripes, and it keeps the rug feeling light. Navy, close to midnight, outlines nearly every motif and gives the drawing its crisp edge. The supporting palette is where the quality shows: olive and moss green in the palmettes, mint and sage in the border cartouches, warm copper and gold in the scrolls, taupe in the corner cartouches and touches of burgundy and grey. Many Isfahans of this grade use fewer shades. This one uses a wide range, each placed with care. The fringe is the natural ivory of the silk foundation.
Isfahan: The Workshop Capital of Central Persia
Isfahan, in central Persia, was the capital of the Safavid shahs, and its court workshops set the standard for classical Persian design from the 16th century on. The city's reputation rests on drawing: the flowing vine, the precise palmette, the curve that never breaks into steps. That only works at a high knot count on a fine foundation, which is why the best Isfahan workshops build on silk. Silk warps let the weaver pack knots tightly and keep the rug lying flat and square. This one, at about 625 knots per square inch, sits firmly in collector territory. Its drawing at the medallion and in the corner cartouches shows a workshop that knew exactly what it was doing. Among 4x6 Persian rugs, a never-used Isfahan in wool and silk on silk is about as fine as the size gets. It is equally at home on a floor that sees little traffic or hung on a wall, where the detail can be seen up close.
