6'6 x 9'9 Persian Qum Pure Silk Rug | Signed Naimi | Safavid Medallion on Magenta Purple Gold Floral Field | 900 KPSI

A 6'6 by 9'9 signed Naimi Qum at approximately 900 KPSI is the rug equivalent of a museum acquisition. The Naimi atelier is one of the very small handful of master ateliers in the city of Qum whose work is collected internationally, signed in the upper border in Farsi (here reading "Iran, Qum, Naimi"), and woven exclusively in pure silk on pure silk foundations. To put 900 KPSI in perspective: a typical fine Persian wool rug runs 200 to 300 knots per square inch, a fine Qum silk runs 500 to 700, and 900 KPSI sits at the absolute upper edge of what is humanly possible to weave. The pile measures approximately 0.26 inches, which is paper-thin even by silk standards and is what allows the cartoon to be drawn with the precision of a miniature painting rather than a textile. For background on why Qum silk rugs occupy a category of their own and what separates atelier work from typical Qum production, see our complete guide to Qum rugs.

Design and Motifs

The composition is a classical Safavid-revival medallion-and-corner layout drawn at the highest level of Qum atelier resolution. At the geometric center of the rug sits a small circular gold rosette medallion, drawn in concentric rings of mustard gold, ochre, and ivory floral lattice, anchored by a tiny eight-petal flower at the very middle. Radiating outward from this rosette is an eight-point star drawn in cream and pale gold, then a square cartouche frame outlined in dark navy, and finally the full medallion structure: a stepped square anchored at top and bottom by two lobed cusped arches, each of which carries its own inner palmette finial in gold on magenta. The four corners of the field carry matching corner spandrels, drawn as quarter sections of the same star-and-cusp geometry, so that when you stand at the center of the rug and look outward, the corner pattern reads as a continuation of the medallion's radial symmetry rather than as a separate ornament. The magenta field surrounding the medallion is filled, knot for knot, with a continuous eslimi (arabesque) lattice of gold floral palmettes, lotus blossoms, lanceolate sickle leaves, and trailing vine work, with no empty ground anywhere on the rug. The main border carries the same gold floral lattice on a matching magenta ground, framed on the inside by a wide saffron-gold guard band of vine and palmette work and on the outside by a narrow ivory and navy meander stripe. The cartouche along the upper border is the woven Naimi signature, reading in Farsi as Iran, Qum, Naimi, with the master's name spelled out in gold knot work.

Colors and Placement

The palette is built on a two-color contrast that is rare even in Qum silk production: a deep magenta purple ground that pulls toward fuchsia in direct light and toward wine in shadow, paired with a saffron gold that pulls toward mustard in cool light and toward burnished bronze in warm light. This is not the brown-leaning aubergine that you sometimes see on dark Qum production, it is a true berry purple with red undertones, and the red bias in the ground color is part of what makes the gold floral work read so warm and luminous against it. The interplay between these two dominant colors is what gives the rug its metallic quality, because pure silk pile reflects light directionally rather than diffusely, which means the gold floral work appears to glow against the dark ground at certain viewing angles and to recede into the field at others. The accent colors are deployed sparingly and with precision: ivory cream is used for the highlight outlines on the medallion's central rosette and the cusped arch headpieces, sky blue is used for the fine outline knots that separate the gold motifs from the magenta ground (which is what gives the floral work its three-dimensional drawn quality), navy is used for the outermost outline of the medallion and the corner cartouches, ochre and saffron run through the inner border guard, and a deeper wine accent appears as scattered single-knot shading inside selected palmettes. In a formal living room, dining room, library, or formal study, this rug becomes the dominant visual element of the room and dictates everything else. The magenta ground anchors the room with a depth that reads almost like a velvet upholstery from across a space, and the gold work picks up and amplifies any warm light source (incandescent, candlelight, sunset). It also performs at its absolute best as wall art, where the silk pile catches directional light and the medallion's sheen shifts hour by hour with the angle of the sun. Many serious collectors of Qum silk choose to display rugs of this caliber on a wall rather than the floor specifically to preserve the pile and to allow the play of light to be visible.

Origin and Construction

Qum (also spelled Qom or Ghom) is a holy city in central Persia and a relative latecomer to the Persian rug world, with serious weaving only beginning in the 1930s. Despite the late start, the city's master ateliers very quickly established themselves at the absolute top of the silk-weaving tradition, and signed Qum silk rugs from named ateliers like Naimi now occupy the same collectible tier as the finest historical Persian rugs from any city. The foundation of this rug is 100% silk, both warp and weft, and the pile is also 100% silk. Silk on silk construction at this density is what allows the knot count to reach 900 per square inch: silk warps and wefts can be spun far thinner than cotton or wool while retaining their tensile strength, so the master can pack more knots into every square inch and draw motifs with the precision of a miniature painting. The pile height of approximately 0.26 inches (roughly 6.5mm) is paper-thin and is what allows the floral lattice on the field to read as a fine drawing rather than a textile, with every petal, every leaf curl, and every vine outlined by individual knots rather than blocks of knots. The Naimi signature in the upper border is woven into the rug itself, not added after, and the signature alone takes a master several days of weaving to complete. The condition is as it left the loom, with full pile, full silk fringes that taper into the foundation rather than being sewn on, and no wear, sun fade, or repair anywhere on the piece. To understand exactly why a 900 KPSI signed Qum silk occupies a different tier than every other category of Persian rug, see our deep dive on wool versus silk rugs.