4'9" x 7'6" Master Signed Sadegh Seirafian Persian Isfahan Rug, Manchester Kork Wool and Silk on a Silk Foundation

A genuine collector piece. This 4'9" x 7'6" Persian Isfahan carries the signature of master weaver Sadegh Seirafian on both end panels, the most respected name in twentieth century Isfahan workshop production. It is woven in Manchester kork wool with silk highlights on a full silk foundation, at roughly 600 knots per square inch, in the soft baby blue and dove gray palette that has made the Seirafian workshops famous around the world. Roughly forty years old, never used, and held in pristine condition. A piece of this calibre rarely reaches the open market.

Design and Motifs

The composition is a full allover drawing rather than a medallion. The choice is deliberate, since master workshops use the allover format to demonstrate complete drawing control across the entire field, with no central anchor to hide behind. A network of curling vine carries large Shah Abbasi palmettes, smaller rosettes, weeping leaves, and tiny floral buds, all rendered in flawless vertical and horizontal symmetry. The main border carries paired Shah Abbasi palmettes and slender vine on a warm gray ground, flanked by twin floral minor guards on ivory and pale blue, then closed with an outer walnut brown frame. Both end panels carry the signature cartouche woven directly into the foundation in Farsi as فرش ایران، اصفهان، صادق صیرفیان (Carpet of Iran, Isfahan, Sadegh Seirafian) with the Latin transliteration "S. SEIRAFIAN" and "ESPAHAN IRAN" flanking the Iranian flag motif, exactly as it leaves the workshop.

Colors and Placement

The ground is the unmistakable Seirafian baby blue washed through with dove gray, a palette that is virtually impossible to reproduce outside this workshop tradition. Floral work is carried in deep wine, garnet, ivory, navy, soft rose, and small notes of camel and gold, with discrete silk highlights catching light at different angles as the day moves. At 4'9" x 7'6" this rug is sized to be lived with rather than walked on. It is the right scale for a formal sitting area in front of a sofa, for a library or executive office, for a master bedroom at the foot of the bed, or as a stretched display piece on a wall. The blue and gray ground places it comfortably in cool-toned and warm-toned interiors equally well.

Origin and Construction

Isfahan has been the heart of fine Persian weaving since the Safavid court moved its workshops there in the seventeenth century, and the full story of the city, its master families, and the construction grades you'll encounter is laid out in our complete guide to Isfahan rugs. This piece is woven at the highest construction grade the city produces. The foundation is full silk, both warp and weft, which gives the back of the rug the flat, even, slightly translucent quality you see in the photographs and allows roughly 600 knots per square inch to sit cleanly without distortion. The pile is Manchester kork wool, the imported English merino lamb wool historically reserved by the top Isfahan workshops for their finest commissions, with discrete silk highlights woven into the floral work to catch and throw light. For a deeper look at how wool, silk, and mixed-fiber construction differ in the hand and in the long term, our guide to handmade rug materials is the right next read. The rectangular 5x7 format places it in the most collected scatter-to-accent bracket for fine signed Persian rugs.