Wonderful example of a Mid Century Qum Rug in a highly unusual design.
 
Rug production only started in the Northern Iranian city of Qum around the turn of the 20th century, but it rapidly gained the reputation of producing the finest quality rugs, it is easy to see why.
 
Dating to around 1950, this rug has the desireable elments that come from age; a softer, subtler colour pallette and a wonderfully abrashed* field, with only the most minor of age related issues.
 
A very fine quality rug, around 270 knots per square inch, with a short and even weave which has no visible wear. There is a pull (a single knot wide, around 1mm) around 12cm long where just the white Kelim ground is visible in the central field. This is hard to see, it isn't apparent on any of the photos.
 
The selvages and ends are all original. One fringe is still tightly knotted/looped (see images), the other end, the knotting has undone and been trimmed. This is tidy and stable.
 
The long edges are curling under, this is expected in a finely woven rug with any age as the pressure of the weave wants to pull inwards. For us, this isn't an issue as it is just the rug wearing it's age, but we can get this flattened with leather strips to the underside if needed, please contact for a quote.
 
We have tried to reproduce the colours as accurately as possible. See close ups for individual colours. The weave is so fine, the colours work in the same way as pointilism or offset litho printing: The central field of Boteh are comprised of Red floral elements with a cream outline on an Indigo field for example, giving the impression of Purple or Violet. The "Orange" inner border is actually Brown florals with Yellow outline on a Red field. The colour can be precieved differently dependant on angle of view.
 
This has been exceptionally well cared for in the past and we have just had it professionally cleaned, it is in great condition and ready to grace any wall or floor.
 
7ft x 4.5ft.
 
Free UK shipping on this, please contact for International shipping quote. Many more photos available, please feel free to request
 
*Abrashed, if unfamiliar with rug terminology: The rug is woven in horizontal rows. When one batch of dyed wool has run out, another is started. This batch may be from a different breed of sheep, use a slightly different concentration of dye etc, variables that can cause the colours to change differently as the rug ages, resulting in the appearance of horizontal bands of colour across the width of the rug.