1077 | PISTACHIO Antique Northwest Persian Kurdish Rug | Circa 1900–1920 | 1.7 × 2.0

ABOUT THIS RUG

Apparently pink and pistachio have been good together for a very long time.

Meet Pistachio—a tiny antique Persian village rug with one of the strangest, softest, most unexpectedly sophisticated palettes we've seen in a while.

Three enormous dusty-pink octagonal medallions march vertically across a field of faded pistachio green.

That's already enough.

But look closer.

Each medallion is filled with tiny hooked devices in chocolate and ivory surrounding a small central diamond. Thin flashes of faded blue divide the field. The borders alternate between chocolate brown, moss, pink, ivory and little remnants of turquoise blue.

And then there's the wear.

Some of the pink has faded almost to blush. The green moves from sage to pistachio to nearly silver. Tiny areas of blue appear and disappear. Portions of the pile have worn completely away.

The whole thing looks like it was excavated rather than purchased.

Origin: Northwest Persia (Iran), attributed to Kurdish village weaving
Age: Antique, likely circa 1900–1920
Construction: Hand-knotted wool
Size: 1'7" × 2'0"
Colors: Pistachio green, dusty pink, faded salmon, chocolate brown, moss, ivory & traces of turquoise blue
Design: Triple-octagonal medallion composition with hooked geometric motifs and multiple tribal borders

WHY WE LOVE IT

The palette makes absolutely no sense for something this old.

Pistachio.

Blush pink.

Chocolate.

Moss.

Turquoise.

Put those colors on a mood board today and someone would call it contemporary.

A Kurdish weaver in Western Persia apparently got there about 120 years early.

And the aging is spectacular.

The green field isn't uniform anymore. Neither is the pink. Different sections have mellowed at different rates, creating shifts in tone that move across the rug like watercolor.

The bottom even gives you that fantastic flash of faded turquoise.

Nothing is perfectly straight.

Nothing matches exactly.

Nothing needs fixing aesthetically.

It's phenomenal.

CONDITION

Pistachio is a fragile antique textile showing substantial age-related wear.

There are areas of very low and missing pile with exposed foundation, losses and deterioration at the ends and fringe, edge irregularities, and evidence of historic repair and/or stabilization. The upper end in particular shows significant loss and should be handled carefully.

This is not a high-traffic floor rug.

We would treat it as a collectible antique textile: use it in an extremely low-traffic location, layer it decoratively, place it beneath something that won't be moved frequently, or display it as textile art.

And frankly?

At this size, we'd seriously consider the wall.

Please review all photographs carefully, as they are considered part of the condition description.

STYLING NOTES

At 1'7" × 2'0", Pistachio is basically a little piece of Persian textile art.

Hang it against limewash.

Put it above a console.

Layer it over a huge neutral rug.

Place it on an antique chest.

Or give it one quiet corner where nobody wearing shoes gets anywhere near it.

Because this isn't the rug for your front door.

It's the rug people walk across the room to ask about.

FINAL WORD

There are bigger rugs.

There are rugs in better condition.

There are certainly rugs that require less explaining.

But find us another century-old Persian rug in pistachio green, dusty pink, chocolate and turquoise that looks like this.

We'll wait.

#1077 — Pistachio.

Small. Fragile. Completely ridiculous.

And we wouldn't change a thing.