3' x 4'8" Persian Bijar | Mahi Herati Design | Hexagonal Medallion | 320 to 340 KPSI

A small format Persian Bijar woven in pure wool on a tight cotton foundation, executed in the classic Mahi Herati pattern with a hexagonal ivory medallion at the center. Bijars are known as the iron rugs of Persia for a reason; the foundation is wet-packed during weaving so the finished rug is exceptionally dense, heavy for its size, and built to take decades of foot traffic. Learn more in our complete guide to Bijar rugs, the iron rugs of Persia.

Design and Motifs

The composition is a textbook Mahi Herati layout. Tiny diamond rosettes flanked by curved leaves (the stylized fish that give Mahi its name) repeat across the entire field in a tight diagonal lattice, with no part of the ground left unfilled. A hexagonal ivory medallion sits dead center, framed by a rust-red inner field with its own miniature lattice, then surrounded by a deep navy outer field that resets the pattern in another colorway. The main border carries a turtle palmette and vine motif on cream, and is bracketed by narrow rosette guard borders on either side. The visual effect is busy, balanced, and unmistakably tribal in feel.

Colors and Placement

A deep rust-red dominates the main field with navy and ivory carrying the secondary fields, and accents of coral, olive, burgundy, and pale blue scatter across the smaller motifs. The palette is warm and saturated and reads richer in person than on screen. At 3' x 4'8" this is an accent size that excels in tight, high-traffic spots: a foyer or entryway where you want something tough underfoot, a kitchen runner zone in front of the sink, beside a bed as a step-out rug, in front of a fireplace, or layered on top of a larger neutral rug to add color and pattern. The dense Bijar weave means it lies flat without curling and shrugs off wear in a way most rugs of this size cannot.

Bijar Rugs and Construction

The town of Bijar sits in Iranian Kurdistan, and Kurdish weavers there have produced what collectors consider the most durable hand-knotted rugs in the world. The signature technique is a wet-pack construction: weavers dampen the wool weft and pound it down hard with a heavy metal comb after each row of knots, locking the foundation into a structure so dense it feels almost like a board until it is broken in. This piece is woven at approximately 320 to 340 KPSI across a 14 square foot surface, equivalent to roughly 670 thousand individual hand-tied knots, representing many months of work at the loom. The wool pile sits on a tight cotton warp and weft, giving the rug both the structural rigidity Bijars are known for and a soft, lustrous surface that wears in beautifully over time. To understand why these rugs last a lifetime and how Bijar compares to other dense Persian weaves, see our complete guide to Bijar rugs and why they last a lifetime.