4'8" x 7'2" Persian Isfahan Wool and Silk Rug Signed by Mir Jalali with Ivory Star Medallion on Royal Navy Field

This 4'8" x 7'2" Persian Isfahan is a signed Mir Jalali piece, woven in the master weaver tradition that has made Isfahan one of the most revered names in the entire history of Persian carpet making. The composition is built around an ivory star medallion drawn with extraordinary precision, floating on a deep royal navy field that is filled corner to corner with a fine Shah Abbasi floral vocabulary. The pile is kork wool combined with silk, anchored on a silk foundation, and the knot density falls in the 550 to 600 KPSI range, which is the level reserved for the finest workshop production coming out of Isfahan. For broader context on what makes an Isfahan a world reference for fine Persian weaving, our complete guide to Isfahan rugs covers the city's weaving heritage, its master workshops, and the design language they have refined over centuries.

Design and Motifs

The composition is the classical Isfahan medallion and field format, executed at a level of refinement that only the top Isfahan workshops achieve. At the center sits an ivory star medallion built around a small ruby and sky-blue rosette core, with eight points radiating outward and an inner ring of stylized lotus and palmette quatrefoils drawn in soft brown, sky blue, and pink. Above and below the medallion are matching ivory pendants drawn in the shah-abbasi vocabulary that the medallion echoes, creating a strong vertical axis through the rug. Four ivory cornerpieces frame the navy field with the same drawing language, each anchored by a small kartouche, and the entire field is filled with a finely scaled allover Shah Abbasi pattern of palmettes, rosettes, lotus heads, and curling vine work that flows continuously between the medallion and the corners. The ivory main border carries large rosette palmettes connected by elegant scrolling vines, framed on both sides by floral guard borders in red and sky blue. Along the bottom edge sits the master weaver's signature cartouche identifying this as a Mir Jalali piece. Every motif is drawn with the precision that fine knot density allows, and nothing in the field is repeated by accident.

Colors and Placement

The palette is jewel-toned and luminous in the way only kork wool combined with silk can be. The royal navy field is unusually deep and saturated, set off by the bright ivory medallion, ivory cornerpieces, and ivory main border so that the eye is drawn instantly to the center and then released outward into the surrounding floral richness. Inside the design vocabulary, ruby and terracotta carry the floral heads, sky blue and sage green carry the leafwork, and small touches of soft pink, gold, and burgundy give the rug the dimension and depth that fine Isfahans are famous for. The silk highlights catch the light differently from the kork wool ground, so the rug visibly shifts in tone depending on the angle of view and the direction of the pile. The 4'8" x 7'2" footprint is a classic Isfahan accent size, ideal under a coffee table in a living room, in front of a fireplace, in a formal entryway, in a study or library, beside a bed, or as a centerpiece in a smaller dining room or sitting room. Pairs naturally with traditional, classical, and transitional interiors, with antique and reproduction furniture, and with rooms designed around one truly fine piece of art on the floor.

Persian Isfahan Rugs and the Mir Jalali Workshop

Isfahan has been one of the great centers of Persian art for more than four hundred years, dating back to the Safavid court of Shah Abbas the Great, when the city was rebuilt as the imperial capital and its workshops set the standard for the entire Persian rug-making tradition. Modern Isfahan production carries that lineage forward through a small number of master weaver workshops whose names appear in signature cartouches at the base of their rugs, and Mir Jalali is among the most respected of those names. A signed Mir Jalali Isfahan is not a generic city rug. It is a workshop piece, designed by a master, woven by skilled weavers under his supervision, and produced in small numbers using the finest materials Isfahan has access to. This rug uses kork wool, the soft wool taken from the underbelly and neck of young Persian lambs, combined with silk for the highlights, and it is woven on a pure silk foundation that allows the knots to be packed at the 550 to 600 KPSI density visible in the precision of the drawing. The result is a rug that belongs to the upper tier of contemporary Persian production and is built to be passed down rather than consumed. For more on choosing between fine wool and silk constructions, our guide to wool versus silk rugs walks through what each material brings to a piece like this one.