6'5" x 10' Hand-Knotted Persian Bijar Rug | Classic Herati All-Over Design on Midnight Navy Field | Elaborate Floral Red Border | 100% Wool on Cotton | 340-360 KPSI

A genuinely heirloom-grade carpet from the Kurdish weaving capital of northwest Iran, this 6'5" x 10' hand-knotted Persian Bijar carries the classical Herati (also called Mahi or "fish-in-pond") pattern across a deep midnight navy field, framed by a richly drawn red main border filled with multicolor palmettes, roses, and curling vines. Bijar rugs are universally known as the "Iron Rug of Persia" for good reason: they are the densest, heaviest, most tightly packed wool rugs ever produced anywhere in the world, woven with a special wet-loom technique that beats the wefts so hard the resulting carpet can outlast generations of heavy traffic with no visible wear. This rug is hand-knotted in 100% wool on a cotton foundation at 340 to 360 knots per square inch with a substantial 0.42 inch pile height, in excellent brand-new never-used condition. Learn more in our complete Persian Bijar rug guide.

Design and Motifs

The composition is the classical Herati pattern in its most refined Bijar interpretation, an all-over diamond lattice carrying small rosettes at every intersection and stylized leaf-and-fish forms (the "mahi" element that gives the design its alternate name) curling around a central diamond on each repeat. The pattern flows continuously from selvage to selvage with no central medallion, creating a calm rhythmic field that reads beautifully from any orientation and works equally well under furniture or in open floor space. The rosettes are picked out in ivory, soft rose, and tan against the deep midnight ground, with the lattice itself drawn in fine red and pale-blue lines that add quiet luminosity to the field at close range. Surrounding the field is a wide saturated red main border carrying a magnificent procession of large palmettes, full-blown roses, and curling acanthus leaves rendered in ivory, soft pink, sage, sky blue, royal blue, and small touches of gold, framed on both sides by narrow ivory and navy guard stripes that step the eye gracefully from field to fringe.

Colors and Placement

The palette is the classic Bijar formula at its most powerful: a deep midnight navy field that anchors the room, framed by a saturated brick-to-rust red main border, with the Herati lattice and border florals carrying ivory, soft pink, rose, sage green, sky blue, royal blue, and small accents of mustard and black. The interplay of the dark blue field against the warm red border gives the rug remarkable visual depth, while the multicolor floral border keeps it lively and never heavy. At 6'5" x 10' the rug is a versatile size that fits beautifully in a wide range of rooms: a formal living room with the front legs of the sofa and chairs on the rug, a primary bedroom at the foot of a queen or king bed, a study, library, or paneled office, a formal dining room comfortably seating a 4 to 6 person table, or a generous foyer or hallway anchor. The palette pairs effortlessly with traditional, English country, neoclassical, transitional, and bohemian interiors, and the durability of Bijar construction means it can take everything daily life sends at it.

Persian Bijar Rugs and the Iron Construction

Bijar is a small Kurdish town in the Kordestan province of northwestern Iran, and the rugs woven there have been called the "Iron Rug of Persia" for over a century. The reputation comes from a unique construction technique: Bijar weavers wet the warps and wefts during weaving and beat each row of knots down with extraordinary force using a heavy iron comb, which packs the foundation so tightly that the resulting carpet is denser, heavier, and more durable than any other Persian rug in its knot-density category. Authentic Bijar rugs cannot be folded sharply (they should be rolled instead), and they routinely outlast their owners and pass down through multiple generations with no perceptible wear. The Herati or Mahi pattern carried by this rug is one of the oldest and most enduring designs in the Persian tradition, originating in the Khorasan region near the city of Herat (now in western Afghanistan) and adopted by Bijar weavers as one of the signature patterns of the region. This rug is hand-knotted using the Persian senneh asymmetric knot at approximately 350 knots per square inch on average across the 64 square foot surface, equivalent to roughly 3.2 million individual hand-tied knots, representing many months of work for skilled Kurdish weavers. Combined with the cotton foundation, dense wool pile, classical Herati drawing, and brand-new never-used condition, this rug represents an exceptional opportunity to acquire a true heirloom Persian carpet at a direct-importer price. Learn more in our complete Persian Bijar rug guide.