Birjand Rugs: Khorasan Drawing in a Paler Key

By Storied Rugs5 min read

Bright split-level living room seen from oak steps, linen sofa and cane armchairs on a large rust red and slate blue rug

Birjand rugs come from the town of Birjand in South Khorasan, in eastern Persia near the border with Afghanistan. They belong to the same family as Mashhad rugs, with curving, finely drawn designs of small repeating flowers, rows of teardrop shapes and round medallions.^[1] Where Mashhads are usually red, Birjands are often pale, in cream, taupe or ivory with soft blue. Most are room size.

Cream Persian Birjand rug with a dusty blue medallion and rust border under a round walnut dining table and cane chairs in a gray room — A Birjand, 6 feet 4 inches by 8 feet 10 inches, under a round dining table, with a cream herati background, a dusty blue medallion and a rust border. This is the pale side of Khorasan weaving.

Birjand and the other Khorasan rugs

Khorasan is the old name for the northeast of Persia, a province that has since been split into three.^[2] Several weaving towns there have their own names, including Mashhad, Kashmar, Ferdos and Sabzevar, and they are not all alike. Birjand is closest to Mashhad. It has the same curving drawing and the same fondness for the herati pattern and the medallion.^[1] The villages around Birjand, such as Dorokhsh and Mud, are known in the trade for the herati pattern in particular. Our Kashmar guide covers the Khorasan town known for busy fields.

You may also read that Khorasan weavers used the jufti knot. It is tied across four warp threads (the lengthwise threads of the foundation) instead of two.^[1] That saves time and wool, and it gives a thinner pile than the pattern suggests. The region, Birjand included, has that reputation, and it is true of some rugs and not of others.^[1] On a vintage rug there is a simpler test. After fifty years, is the pile still there? The close-up photos on each listing show exactly that, and every rug is washed and inspected before we list it.

Overhead view of a corner of a cream Persian Birjand rug with blue herati pattern and taupe borders on dark oak boards — A Birjand, 7 feet 1 inch by 10 feet 4 inches, seen from above. The small herati repeat fills the blue corners around a plain cream diamond.

The designs: herati, boteh and the round medallion

The herati is a small repeating pattern, a flower head inside a diamond with curling leaves around it.^[3] Repeated from edge to edge, it gives the rug an even, shimmering texture. The trade often calls it mahi, meaning fish, after the shape of those leaves. It is the pattern you will see on most Birjands.

Some Birjands carry the herati plain from border to border. More often a medallion sits on top of it. It may be a diamond, as on the rug above, or a round, many-pointed rosette with smaller pendants above and below. Birjand shares that round medallion with Mashhad.

Persian Birjand rug with a round navy medallion on a cream field and rust border in a sunlit ochre study with a leather chair — A Birjand, 6 feet 3 inches by 9 feet 10 inches. A round navy medallion with pendants sits on a cream herati background, the layout Birjand shares with Mashhad.

A smaller group has no medallion. Instead the rug is filled with rows of boteh, the teardrop motif. These are the calmest Birjands, and from a few feet away the pattern reads almost as a texture. The boteh collection gathers rugs from every origin built on the same idea, and reading a rug explains both motifs.

Persian Birjand rug with rows of small brown boteh and a terracotta border at the foot of an oak bed in a blue gray bedroom — A Birjand, 6 feet 10 inches by 9 feet 11 inches, with rows of dark brown boteh on a cream background. Up close each teardrop is clear. From across the room, the rows read as texture.

What colors Birjand rugs come in

About half of Birjands have a pale background in cream, ivory, beige or taupe. They usually have rust borders, with dusty blue, navy or sage in the drawing. The rest are mostly warm, in rust, terracotta, burgundy or deep red, and a few are dark brown, charcoal or blue. Mashhads come from the same family and share the same drawing, but they are mostly red. So if you like Khorasan drawing but not a red rug, a Birjand is the one to look at.

The pale Birjands suit rooms that a red Persian rug would overpower, with white walls, light oak, linen and cane. The pattern is small and even, so it adds texture without weight. From across a room many of them read as a soft, warm neutral. If that is the look you want from any origin, see the cream rugs.

Sizes: mostly room size

Most Birjands are room size, six feet wide or more. They run from 6 by 9 up to 10 by 14, and 7 by 10 is the most common. If you are weighing sizes against a sofa, 8x10 vs 9x12 shows how to measure. The rest are nearly all runners, between 2 and 4 feet wide and up to 12 feet long. They carry the same herati and boteh drawing at hallway width.

Long terracotta Persian Birjand runner with an all-over herati pattern down a sunlit hall with an oak console, lamp and bench — A Birjand runner, 2 feet 6 inches by 10 feet 6 inches. The same herati pattern at hallway width, on a terracotta background.

What Birjand rugs cost

Price follows size closely. Room-size Birjands cost from about $1,000 to $2,700, and the bigger the rug, the higher the price. Runners cost less. At the same size, a Birjand costs much the same as a Mashhad, so the choice between them comes down to color, not budget.

Nearly all Birjands have a low pile. On a rug this size, that means chairs slide easily, doors clear and the drawing stays sharp when you look down at it. What determines the cost of a rug explains the rest.

Where to go next

You will find them all in the Birjand collection. For the red side of the same family, read the Mashhad guide. For formal city drawing in cooler colors, see the Kerman guide. Room-size rugs from every origin are in extra large and oversized. If you are still deciding how big to go, how to choose the right rug size works through it room by room.