Ivory and Blue Bird Border Medallion Nain, Hand-Knotted Wool Rug

This is a fine, hand-knotted piece that rewards a little extra care. 100% wool pile with a natural fringe at both ends, and an inscribed cartouche in the outer border at one end.

The ivory ground will show traffic and spills more readily than a dark rug would, and at this size much of it sits in open floor rather than under furniture. Take particular care of the cartouche, which sits close to the fringe where wear concentrates. A fine pile also crushes under furniture legs, so use a rug pad.

Look along the main border and you will find birds. Small blue songbirds are worked into the flowering vine, perched among the blossoms at intervals, and they are drawn at the same scale as the flowers so that they disappear into the pattern until you are looking for them. Living creatures are not universal in Persian weaving — much of it is strictly vegetal and geometric — and where they do appear it is usually as a quiet addition of this kind rather than as a subject. Finding them is one of the pleasures of owning a rug like this: they are invisible from standing height and obvious once you have knelt down. There is also an inscribed cartouche in the outer border at one end, woven in tan on cream. The low contrast makes it hard to read in a photograph, but it marks this as workshop weaving by a named hand, and it is worth examining in raking light with the rug in front of you.