6'6 x 9'10 Persian Qum Silk Rug | Signed Mohseni | Scalloped Rose Medallion | 900 KPSI

A 6'6 by 9'10 signed Mohseni Qum silk on silk is the kind of piece that defines a room and, frankly, a collection. Woven in the holy city of Qum in central Persia, this rug carries the signature of one of the most respected master weavers working in silk today, and the knot density of approximately 900 per square inch puts it firmly in the upper tier of fine Persian silk weaving. Every flower head, every leaf curl, every tiny lattice star in the field is rendered with the kind of resolution that only ultra-fine silk knotting allows. For background on this weaving tradition and why these rugs occupy a category of their own, see our complete guide to Qum rugs.

Design and Motifs

The composition is a three-part vertical arrangement that is unmistakably Qum at its most ambitious. At the heart of the rug sits a large scalloped, lobed medallion, its cusped outline drawn in midnight blue and rimmed in ivory pearl-banding, packed corner to corner with a gol-o-bolbol (rose and nightingale) garden of full-bloom red roses, coral roses, salmon roses, dusty pink rosebuds, sage leaves, and small white daisies and chamomile heads. At the very center of the medallion, a tiny eight-petal rosette in slate blue and ivory acts as the visual pin holding the entire composition together. Above and below this central medallion sit two smaller anchor cartouches, drawn with cusped Persian arch profiles in cobalt and royal blue, each one repeating the rose garden theme in miniature on their own midnight blue grounds. The wine-red field surrounding all three medallions is not empty for a single knot: it is filled with a fine all-over arabesque of slate blue palmettes, eight-pointed Islamic stars, ivory shamsa rosettes, and trailing vines that flow continuously around the medallions. The main border is one of the most charismatic features of the rug, a continuous rose garland of fully opened red, salmon, and coral roses with sage and turquoise foliage, set on a deep teal-blue ground. Flanking that main border on both sides are paired narrow guard borders carrying delicate ivory and gold meander strips, and the outermost selvage is wrapped in deep teal silk, the same teal that anchors the rose garland.

Colors and Placement

The palette is jewel-toned, layered, and built for formal rooms with serious lighting. The dominant ground color is a deep oxblood wine, the kind of saturated red-brown that reads warm in candlelight and almost black-cherry in daylight. Set against that wine field, the medallions glow in a near-black midnight blue that, as the eye gets closer, reveals undertones of teal and ink. The rose work is the colorist's masterstroke: at least four distinct red and pink families are interwoven across the floral motifs, ranging from a deep crimson at the heart of each rose, out through ruby and brick, then into coral and finally salmon and dusty pink at the petal edges, which is what gives every single bloom its three-dimensional, almost sculpted quality. The cooler counterpoints are equally considered, with slate blue, sky blue, and cobalt running through the field arabesques and the cartouche outlines, ivory and pearl white running through the lattice stars and pearl-banding, sage green and turquoise running through the leaves and stems, and old gold running through the meander guards and the inner border outlines. The teal main border ground is the bridge color that ties the cool blues of the medallions to the warm reds of the field. In a formal living room, dining room, study, or library, this rug becomes the centerpiece around which the rest of the room is arranged, pulling the warmest tones out of mahogany furniture and the coolest tones out of polished metal and silk upholstery. It also performs beautifully as wall art, which is how many serious collectors choose to display silk Qums of this caliber, where the natural sheen of silk pile shifts the read of every color throughout the day, the wine deepening in evening light and the corals lighting up in morning sun.

Origin and Construction

Qum (also spelled Qom or Ghom) is a relative latecomer to the Persian rug world, with serious weaving only beginning in the 1930s, but the city's weavers very quickly established themselves at the top of the silk-weaving tradition. The foundation here is silk and the pile is silk, which is what allows knot densities like 900 KPSI in the first place: silk warps and wefts can be spun far thinner than wool or cotton without losing strength, so the weaver can pack more knots into every square inch, and finer knots mean the curve of a rose petal or the stem of a leaf can be drawn with the precision of a miniature painting rather than a textile. The Mohseni signature in the upper border is woven into the rug itself, not added after, and reads in Farsi as Iran, Qum, Mohseni. Signing a rug is something only the most established master weavers do, because the signature carries reputation and warranty across decades. 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 why silk on silk Qums occupy a different tier than wool rugs, see our deep dive on wool versus silk rugs.