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Antique Persian Mahal Rug in Red Open Field & Lion Pictorials, from Rug & Kilim

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Antique

Wool

NO. 31404

Persia

11'4" X 16'8" (3.45 m x 5.08 m)

Available: Shipping As Soon As Tomorrow

Antique Persian Mahal Rug in Red Open Field & Lion Pictorials, from Rug & Kilim

Hand-knotted in wool circa 1920-1930, this 11x17 antique Persian Mahal rug is an exciting and rare new collectible from Rug & Kilim’s collection featuring a red open field, floral patterns and exceptional lion pictorials. On the Design: Admirers of the craft may appreciate this very special antique rug for being not only an exceptional find from one of the most special provenances (Mahal rugs), but a rarity to find an animal rug of such spacious large size, scale, and love in its every inch. Keen eyes for detail may admire a red open field underscores twin lions on either end, with large motifs above them almost like eyes sporting the same blues as the many borders underscoring such elaborate floral patterns around the design. Connoisseurs will appreciate what an uncommon play of styles this is, with the more city-rug workshop style in its borders and more the feel of a tribal rug (almost like a Gabbeh or a Qashqai) in the pictorials—one of the most regal works of folk art we’ve ever found. This is a bold, graphic, personal antique piece; a piece of weaving history most likely from a special workshop with a deep reverence for the charm of pictorial rugs—this being one of the most elegant and versatile we’ve seen. Condition: This antique Persian Mahal rug is in good condition for its age and origin, and is ready for vast design applications—an extremely rare and collectible piece of Persian weaving.

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"Working with this family-owned team has been an absolute joy. Their communication, craftsmanship, and flawless execution on our custom rugs consistently exceed expectations."

— Phoebe Howard, James Michael Howard

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Specifications:

Measurements: 11'4" x 16'8" ( 3.45 m x 5.08 m )
Categories: Antique, The Jahanshah Collection
Classification: Classic/Traditional, Geometric, Mahal, Open Field, Persian, Pictorial
Material: Wool
Origin: Persia
SKU: 31404

From The Journal

Stories from the Antique Collection

Essays, artist dialogues, and provenance notes drawn from Rug & Kilim’s editorial desk.

What Makes Tibetan Wool the Gold Standard for Custom Rugs

September 23, 2026

What Makes Tibetan Wool the Gold Standard for Custom Rugs

Every great rug begins long before the loom. It begins on the animal, in the place, in the particular conditions that made the fiber what it is. And among all the wools that have ever been spun into a carpet, few can rival the wool of the Tibetan highlands, a material whose superiority is not a matter of marketing but of altitude, climate, and the unhurried logic of the natural world. The sheep of the Tibetan plateau live at elevations that would defeat most living things, thin air, brutal cold, a growing season measured against a sky closer than it has any right to be. Nature's answer to that severity is the fleece. To survive the plateau, the animal must grow a wool of exceptional density and, crucially, of exceptional lanolin content; the natural oil that coats each fiber, repels water, resists soil, and lends the finished yarn a luster and resilience that lowland wools cannot approach. What is hardship for the animal is a gift to the weaver.

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The Evolution of Floral Motifs in Antique Rugs and Kilims: Mapping the Pomegranate, Tulip, and Carnation

September 3, 2026

The Evolution of Floral Motifs in Antique Rugs and Kilims: Mapping the Pomegranate, Tulip, and Carnation

Antique 17th Century French Beauvais Tapestry with Floral Vase - Rug & Kilim, NO. 36829 We had a tapestry acquisition unfolding itself in the studio a while ago. Josh and the team just stood there, silently admiring the way the light caught the threads. This was the Antique French Beauvais Tapestry (SKU 36829). It was handwoven in wool, with natural silk accents, circa 1700. When you look at something like that, you do not just see fabric. What you see is the garden of wool and dreams. The precise interlacing of the wefts gives a picture of a gigantic floral vase placed atop an architectural entablature. The botanical imagery is absolutely mesmerizing. There is so much wealth and mystery to it all.

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The Total Art: Vienna’s Century, From the Gold Frieze to the Contemporary Era

August 28, 2026

The Total Art: Vienna’s Century, From the Gold Frieze to the Contemporary Era

In the dining room of a banker's house in Brussels there is a wall of gold. Klimt designed it; the Stoclet Frieze, a tree of life branching across marble and enamel and coral, a dancer on one side and an embracing couple on the other, the couple a direct rehearsal for the painting the whole world would later know as The Kiss. But to stand in that room, were one ever permitted to, is to understand that the frieze is not the point of it. The point is that the frieze, the marble, the cutlery, the door handles, and the carpet underfoot were all conceived as a single object by a single mind. The Palais Stoclet, built by Josef Hoffmann between 1905 and 1911 and now sealed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the most complete surviving statement of the idea that organised an entire Viennese century: the Gesamtkunstwerk, the total work of art, in which nothing; not the spoon, not the dress, not the floor, ranks below the painting on the wall.

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Rugs, Books, and the Fine Art of Living with Intention: Rug & Kilim’s Dialogue with Art and Literature

Rugs, Books, and the Fine Art of Living with Intention: Rug & Kilim’s Dialogue with Art and Literature

A great house is measured not only by what lies underfoot, but by what rests within reach. At Rug & Kilim, The Royal Collection and Volumes are not parallel endeavors—they are twin expressions of the same language: that art, design, and intellect belong in continuous dialogue. Both are products of patronage, atelier discipline, and an unwavering belief that beauty must be structured. A serious interior does not begin with furniture. It begins with a position. For centuries, the rug has been the most intellectually charged plane in a room—the only surface that holds architecture, painting, mythology, and diplomacy in a single field. Likewise, the book is not décor; it is declaration. It reveals the mind that inhabits the space.

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Rug of the Week V: A 1920s Lion Mahal Rug and Persia’s Folk-Imperial Dialogue

September 17, 2025

Rug of the Week V: A 1920s Lion Mahal Rug and Persia’s Folk-Imperial Dialogue

Not all rugs whisper beauty. Some confront, some provoke, and some stand strong of their age. This 1920–30 Persian Mahal lion carpet belongs emphatically to the latter. Its scale alone commands attention, but it is its audacity of imagery—two lions poised across a crimson ground, punctuated by talismanic eyes—that distinguishes it from its peers. What could have been another workshop carpet for export markets instead asserts itself as an emblem of power, politics, and folk poetics. It is not only a rug to be admired, but one to be read. The Provenance: Mahal as a Crossroads Mahal rugs occupy a fascinating place in Persian weaving history. Located in northwestern Iran, the Mahal region became particularly significant during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as European demand reshaped Persian textile production. Western markets craved large-scale carpets for townhouses and institutions, and Mahal—situated near Sultanabad, a major weaving hub—supplied. These rugs often combined refined city-border designs with the looser, more organic hand of village weavers.

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A Glossary of Handmade Rugs and Kilims: Understanding Terms, Types and Techniques Past and Present

A Glossary of Handmade Rugs and Kilims: Understanding Terms, Types and Techniques Past and Present

Referring to the art style characterized by using shape and color withdrawn from traditional repetition or realism. Abstract rugs — sometimes referred to as art rugs — capture an expressive nature that reads as a very modern style, though many abstract rugs draw inspiration from works of the same art style in the mid-century. One of the more widely known mid-century lineages of this style is abstract expressionism, named for the literal "expressionists" of the 1950s. Some of the most notable names behind this style include Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. Referring to a lineage of nomadic Persian rugs (sometimes referred to as “Avsar” in the alternate spelling). Afshar rugs hail from the eponymous tribe in the region of Northeastern Iran.

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Oversized Antique Persian Mahal Pictorial Rug

Oversized Antique Persian Mahal Pictorial Rug

Oversized Antique Persian Mahal Pictorial Rug

Oversized Antique Persian Mahal Pictorial Rug

Oversized Antique Persian Mahal Pictorial Rug

Oversized Antique Persian Mahal Pictorial Rug

Oversized Antique Persian Mahal Pictorial Rug

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This tool allows you to view, refine, and prepare imagery drawn directly from the pieces in our archive. They can be visualized cleanly, isolated thoughtfully, and adjusted for presentations, proposals, and private viewings, without altering the integrity of the original work.

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Oversized Antique Persian Mahal Pictorial Rug

Oversized Antique Persian Mahal Pictorial Rug

Oversized Antique Persian Mahal Pictorial Rug

Oversized Antique Persian Mahal Pictorial Rug

Oversized Antique Persian Mahal Pictorial Rug

Oversized Antique Persian Mahal Pictorial Rug

Oversized Antique Persian Mahal Pictorial Rug

Antique

Wool

NO. 31404

Persia

11'4" X 16'8" (3.45 m x 5.08 m)

Log In to See Price

Available: Shipping as Soon as Tomorrow

Antique Persian Mahal Rug in Red Open Field & Lion Pictorials, from Rug & Kilim

Hand-knotted in wool circa 1920-1930, this 11x17 antique Persian Mahal rug is an exciting and rare new collectible from Rug & Kilim’s collection featuring a red open field, floral patterns and exceptional lion pictorials. On the Design: Admirers of the craft may appreciate this very special antique rug for being not only an exceptional find from one of the most special provenances (Mahal rugs), but a rarity to find an animal rug of such spacious large size, scale, and love in its every inch. Keen eyes for detail may admire a red open field underscores twin lions on either end, with large motifs above them almost like eyes sporting the same blues as the many borders underscoring such elaborate floral patterns around the design. Connoisseurs will appreciate what an uncommon play of styles this is, with the more city-rug workshop style in its borders and more the feel of a tribal rug (almost like a Gabbeh or a Qashqai) in the pictorials—one of the most regal works of folk art we’ve ever found. This is a bold, graphic, personal antique piece; a piece of weaving history most likely from a special workshop with a deep reverence for the charm of pictorial rugs—this being one of the most elegant and versatile we’ve seen. Condition: This antique Persian Mahal rug is in good condition for its age and origin, and is ready for vast design applications—an extremely rare and collectible piece of Persian weaving.

Read more

"Rug & Kilim is my go to resource for rugs. Their selection is wide and deep, and Josh’s eye for antique pieces is extraordinary. I always walk away with great pieces, and they are a pleasure to collaborate with. They’ve been my trusted partner on projects for years."

— Ann Wolf, Wolf Holden Design Studio

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View Similar Tearsheet

Specifications:

Measurements: 11'4" x 16'8" ( 3.45 m x 5.08 m )
Categories: Antique, The Jahanshah Collection
Classification: Classic/Traditional, Geometric, Mahal, Open Field, Persian, Pictorial
Material: Wool
Origin: Persia
SKU: 31404

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