As with the other northwest Persian carpet in this section, its design derives from an earlier, more complex Khorasani type. A conspicuous feature of its pattern is a curious ragged motif, the harshang (or crab), design here picked out in red and dominating the central vertical direction, surrounded by a series of repeated shrubs and flowers. The shape of this carpet (three or four times as long as it is wide) suggests that it was produced as the centerpiece of the four-carpet arrangement that covered the floor of a traditional Persian home. Two long rugs would flank this central carpet on either side, while a medium-sized carpet would have been laid transversely across the room’s width

Detail