A Tableau Rug after Mahmoud Farshchian

This is a tableau rug — a pictorial composition woven to be hung and read like a painting rather than walked upon. The motif is based on a work by Mahmoud Farshchian, a leading name in contemporary Persian miniature painting, whose lyrical, movement-filled compositions have been translated into hand-knotted rugs by Tabriz ateliers for decades. The scene shows a central female figure with a fawn, doves in flight, flowering branches and a swirling sky — the kind of narrative, calligraphic drawing that defines the Farshchian idiom.

The piece is hand-knotted in Tabriz, the city which produces most of the finest contemporary Persian tableau rugs. Reading Farshchian's line at this scale demands the disciplined, fine workshop production for which Tabriz is internationally known.

The Tableau Tradition

A tableau (or tablou) rug is a textile picture. Unlike a floor rug, it is composed and oriented to be seen on the wall, often framed or hung as a centrepiece. The genre emerged in Iran in the late nineteenth century, drawing on the European tradition of pictorial tapestries while remaining technically a knotted carpet. Today Tabriz is the leading source: workshops there produce tableau rugs after Persian miniatures, classical paintings and modern works such as Farshchian's. The technical demand is high — fine pile, disciplined drawing, exact colour separation — and the genre sits closer to fine textile art than to floor decoration.

Colour and Composition

The picture is set in an oval cartouche on a gold-ochre ground. At its centre, a young woman with long dark hair in flowing blue-and-white robes leans against a fawn, surrounded by white doves in flight. Flowering branches in coral and rose fill the left; swirling cloud-and-wind forms in royal blue and cream rise above; a fiery phoenix-like bird glows in orange and red at the lower right. The palette is rich and painterly: gold-ochre, royal blue, cream and white, emerald and leaf-green, coral-rose, orange-red, with finely graded skin tones. At 60 raj the knotting is fine enough to render the painterly modelling of faces, feathers and drapery.

Placement and Display

At 105 × 80 cm (0.8 m²) the piece is sized for wall display. Three ways it shows best:

• Framed wall piece: Mounted in a wood or metal box frame as a textile artwork — the way tableau rugs are most often presented.
• Hung as a centrepiece: On a single wall using a textile-friendly hanging system, read at conversational distance like a painting.
• Collector's display: In a study, gallery wall or considered interior where the fineness of the drawing rewards close looking.

Indirect light suits the wool surface best — strong direct sunlight should be avoided over the years to preserve colour saturation. The piece is not intended for floor use.

Specifications

Responsible Origin · Label STEP

Djoharian is a certified partner of Label STEP, the international fair-trade organisation for hand-knotted rugs. STEP audits production conditions on the ground — wages, working environment, no child labour — and tracks pieces from loom to dealer.

Djoharian — Since 1967

Our family business was founded in 1967, with roots in the Grand Carpet Bazaar of Tehran — five decades of trade and connoisseurship behind every piece we offer.

Service

Secure and fast worldwide shipping, fully insured. Each piece is professionally packed and documented. We are available for any questions on placement, framing, care, or comparable pieces.