Early 20th Century Persian Tabriz Floral Brown, Beige and Blue Handmade Wool Rug BB5913 9'8" × 12'0" $50,000

This ornately designed circa-1920 antique Persian Tabriz rug features an all-over pattern of arabesques, floral abstractions and such staples of Oriental rug weaving as the boteh, in shades of brown and blue against a field of light beige. A paisley shape, the boteh usually represents a leaf or a pinecone and is believed by some scholars to be a Zoroastrian symbol of life and eternity.

The famous textile-manufacturing city of Tabriz, the Azerbaijani-populated province in the north west of Iran, boasts one of the oldest rug weaving centers in the world and produces a large variety of antique oriental rugs characterized by having an especially fine knot density (indicative of high quality hand-knotted rugs). An antique Tabriz rug can be made of cotton or silk and woven as a pile Persian carpet or flat-weave. A refined palette reliant on copper tones, terracotta and ivory, with shades of blue and subtle touches of gold, green and salmon are prevalent in these carpets.