Antique Persian Mahal Room Size Carpet

A wool pile with asymmetric knots on a cotton foundation. The bold design features pairs of giants, forked acanthoids, and associated bitonal striped rough palmettes set against a sandy straw field, which is characteristic of Sultanabad. However, the red-striped border with undirected turtles is clearly of Mahal style. This rug serves as an interesting intermediate piece in both period and style, bridging the outgoing and incoming types. There is slight movement in the pattern toward one end of the field.