This circa-1880 antique Northwest Persian Tabriz rug features an all-over design of palmettes, serrated leaves and floral trellis against a field of sand. The concentrated pattern contains the herati design, which is a common motif of Oriental rug weaving and is usually a flower centered in a diamond framed by diagonal leaves. A midnight blue border with palmettes and curving leaves finishes the intricate design. The famous textile-manufacturing city of Tabriz, the Azerbaijani-populated province in the north west of Iran, boasts one of the antique Persian rug weaving centers in the world and produces a large variety of carpets characterized by having an especially fine knot density (indicative of high quality hand-knotted rugs). An antique Tabriz antique carpet can be made of cotton or silk and woven as a pile 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.