8' x 11'11" Persian Tabriz Rug | Ruby Red Field, Ivory and Sky Blue Medallion, Navy Spandrels | Semi-Antique

A ruby red Tabriz with the field left open is a rug that reads from the doorway: one ivory medallion, 4 navy corner spandrels, and a wide red border, with everything else drawn small so the red carries the room. This 8' x 11'11" piece was woven in wool on a cotton foundation about 50 years ago at 180 to 200 knots per square inch, and it has never been on a floor. The pile is full and even across the whole surface, the ivory cotton fringes are clean at both ends, one long side is bound in leather on the back, and the red has the settled depth that only decades of age give to good wool. A certificate of authenticity from Rugs.net accompanies the rug.

Design and Motifs

The medallion is a lobed ivory oval built around a sky blue core. At its center a small ivory quatrefoil holds a green rosette; around that the blue ground is sprinkled with tiny burgundy and salmon rosettes; and the outer ivory ring carries a wreath of red roses, chartreuse leaves and blue buds on curling stems, with a chartreuse and gold palmette pointing outward on each horizontal side. A tall ivory pendant hangs from the medallion at top and bottom, drawn as a lobed cartouche with a blue heart and salmon and chartreuse fronds, and beyond each pendant a fan of blue carnations, tulips and daisies closes the axis. The rest of the red field is left open, scattered with detached sprays: sprigs of white and salmon 5-petal blossoms, blue carnations, chartreuse leaves and gold tendrils, arranged in mirror image across both axes so that the red stays dominant. The 4 corners are cut by large midnight navy spandrels with a scalloped inner edge, each one holding an ivory palmette cartouche filled with salmon and brown blossoms, surrounded by navy ground worked with red rosettes, chartreuse split leaves and gold arabesques. A navy inner guard with a vine of red and salmon rosettes frames the field, followed by the ruby main border, which alternates large lotus palmettes in ivory, salmon and chartreuse with pairs of curled navy and gold saz leaves on a chestnut vine, and a second navy rosette guard with a thin gold stripe closes the frame before a plain navy selvage.

Colors of This Ruby Red Tabriz Rug

The field is a ruby red with a raspberry cast, cooler and clearer than the brick red of a village rug, and because so much of it is left plain it reads as a single wash of color that shifts from crimson to a deep cherry with the pile direction. The main border is the same red, so the rug is red from edge to edge with the navy guards drawn across it as thin dark lines. The spandrels are a midnight navy that reads close to black next to the red and gives the composition its 4 dark anchors. The medallion and the spandrel cartouches are a warm ivory, a shade off cream, and the medallion core is a clear sky blue, the brightest cool note on the rug. Inside the flowers the palette is bright: a chartreuse yellow-green in the leaves that is unusual on a Persian rug and gives the sprays their sparkle, a salmon pink and a peach in the blossoms, a mustard gold in the palmettes and border leaves, an olive and a forest green in the stems, and a chestnut brown for the outlines and the border vine. On the back the colors sit a shade lighter with no bleeding, and the knot rows are even and close.

Tabriz Weaving and the Open Field Medallion

Tabriz in northwest Persia has been a rug weaving capital since the Safavid court moved there in the 16th century, and its workshops draw on the widest repertoire in the country, from 60 Raj silk-foundation miniatures to heavy room-size wool rugs like this one. The open field medallion is the format Tabriz weaves best at a commercial knot count: at 180 to 200 knots per square inch the palmettes and sprays are drawn crisply while the pile stays thick enough for a lifetime on a busy floor, and the plain red ground hides nothing and needs nothing. A 50-year-old Tabriz that has never been walked on is as close to a new rug of that period as a buyer will find, with the softening of color that new wool cannot imitate. Among 8x11 Persian rugs it is a living room or dining room piece where the medallion sits clear of the furniture and the red does the rest.