4'6" x 6'9" Antique Persian Kashan Rug | Signed by Grand Master Safazadeh | Circa 1920

This antique 4'6" x 6'9" Persian Kashan rug was woven around 1920 in the workshop of Grand Master Safazadeh, whose signature cartouche is knotted into the upper border. It is an excellent example of high Persian taste in the era of Reza Shah Pahlavi (1925-1941), when the finest Kashan workshops competed for the patronage of the court and the great merchant houses. Woven in soft kork wool on a cotton foundation at approximately 240-260 knots per square inch, it survives in mint condition, remarkable for a rug of more than 100 years. A true collector's rug, accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The composition is the classic Kashan formula executed at master level: a red lobed medallion with an ivory core floats on a densely drawn navy field, framed by red spandrels touched with French blue at the corners. The field carries a full vocabulary of Shah Abbas palmettes, curling paisley boteh, blossoming vines, and delicate serrated leaves, every element outlined in ivory so the drawing stays crisp against the dark ground. The main border answers with large palmettes and scrolling arabesques on navy between paired ivory guard bands. The Safazadeh cartouche sits quietly in the border minor stripe, the workshop's name on its work, the old way of standing behind quality.

Color

The palette is deep and jewel-like, anchored by a midnight navy field and a warm brick red that carries the medallion, spandrels, and main border ground. Around these 2 dominants the weaver scattered French blue, rose pink, mint green, ivory, and old gold, colors that only appear in this saturation and softness in early vegetable-dyed work. A century of gentle mellowing has fused the tones together: the red glows rather than shouts, the navy reads almost black in low light and blooms blue in the sun. The abrash and patina of a genuine 1920s piece cannot be reproduced, and this rug wears both beautifully.

Origin

Kashan, in central Persia north of Isfahan, carries a weaving lineage that reaches back to the Safavid court workshops, and the early 20th century was one of its greatest periods. Workshops led by named masters produced rugs of a refinement that made "Kashan" a byword for quality across Europe and America, and a signed piece from this era is the top of that production. The pile here is kork wool, the soft fleece from the neck and shoulders of the lamb, which gives the surface its dense, velvety hand and subtle sheen. Signed, dated by period, and preserved in mint condition, this is the kind of Kashan that anchors a collection.