Gold Medallion Sirafian Isfahan, Hand-Knotted Wool Rug

Material: 100 percent hand-spun kork wool pile, hand-knotted on a cotton foundation.

Care instructions

• Vacuum gently and regularly on a low setting.
• Rotate the rug every six months for even wear.
• Blot spills immediately, working from the outside in.
• Keep out of prolonged direct sunlight.
• Have the rug professionally hand-cleaned every few years.

Sirafian is the name that matters here. The Seirafian family have woven in Isfahan since the early twentieth century and their workshop is generally held to be the finest of the modern Isfahan producers, working to knot counts and standards of drawing that very few looms anywhere attempt. A Sirafian rug is signed, and the signature in the lower border is part of what you are buying. The design is the classical Shah Abbasi — continuous scrolling vine carrying palmettes and curved saz leaves, resolving into a single radial medallion — but the ground is the unusual choice: a clear golden yellow rather than the ivory or indigo Isfahan usually reaches for, which throws the wine red and navy forward and gives the whole rug an unusual warmth. Woven in kork wool, the soft fleece taken from the neck and underbelly of the sheep, which takes dye more deeply and wears to a sheen rather than dulling.