3'5" x 4'7" Persian Yalameh Rug | Royal Blue Serrated Diamond | Red Hexagon Field | Ivory Flower Border
Strong color and a confident medallion make this 3'5" x 4'7" Persian Yalameh feel bigger than it is. It is hand-knotted in wool pile on a cotton foundation at approximately 220 to 240 knots per square inch, a sturdy count that suits the bold, angular drawing and gives the pile a thick, resilient feel. The rug has never been used, is in excellent condition and ships with a certificate of authenticity. Among our 3x5 rugs it is one of the most graphic, a good choice for an entry, a reading corner or the foot of a bed where you want a real point of color.
Design and Motifs
At the center sits a royal blue diamond with serrated, sawtooth edges, and at its heart is a small red octagon holding a dark 8-pointed star. Red stars mark the diamond's upper and lower points, and its blue ground is dotted with tiny branching sprigs. The diamond floats inside a large red hexagon outlined in ivory, and at each end of the hexagon a slender flowering tree grows toward the center, a motif tribal weavers often use as a sign of life and growth. Ivory hooked forms, like stylized ram's horns, reach in from both sides of the field. The corners are filled with royal blue spandrels holding small red square panels and more branching ornaments. An ivory main border with a row of small tulip heads in red, blue and turquoise frames the field, held between narrow rust red guard stripes.
Royal Blue, Red and Ivory
The palette is built on a strong contrast between 2 saturated colors. A clear, warm red fills the hexagon and gives the rug its heat, while royal blue, a softer, slightly dusty shade, fills the central diamond and the 4 corner spandrels, so the blue reads twice, once at the center and again at the edges. Ivory draws the fine outline of the hexagon, the hooked side motifs and the flowering trees, and fills the main border, a bright line that keeps the red and blue clearly separated. Rose softens the guard stripes and a few of the border flowers, and turquoise adds small cool highlights to the tulips and sprigs. Dark brown draws the serrated edge of the diamond and the outlines throughout, while beige and grey appear in the smaller details, quiet supporting tones that let the 3 main colors stay in charge.
Yalameh Weaving of South Central Persia
Yalameh rugs come from villages in south central Persia, in the country between Isfahan and Shiraz, where weavers of tribal descent settled and kept knotting the designs they had carried with them. Their work is easy to recognize: serrated diamonds, stepped and hooked medallions, small scattered stars and sprigs, and a palette that leans on red and blue. The drawing is geometric and spirited, closer to nomadic work than to the curving florals of the city workshops, and it shares much with other tribal rugs of the south. You can see more examples among our Persian Yalameh rugs. This small piece shows the style at full strength, a sawtooth blue diamond set in red with a little tree growing toward it from each end.
