Hi Kathleen, and welcome to the Rug Rag Forum

This piece you've presented is what I would guess, possibly a Tabriz rug. Many of these pictorial pieces which are woven do not do justice to the true figures they're meaning to depict. However, this example you've brought here to the forum does show excellent optimization of knot count and design translation. Weaving detailed faces is not easy, but this rug proves some excellent experience on behalf of weaver and designer. It's probably not much older than 20 years going by the coloring

Similar rugs to this are often meant for local areas to where they were woven. Importing such pictorial depictions to Western Markets don't have the same historic value as they would if they remained in Iran.

Certainly a nice example, while I do not know who these two characters are, I can tell you these smaller rugs are often meant to be displayed on tables, or hung on the wall. It's not uncommon to find some of these pictorial depictions to have something to do with Persian Literature, poetry or other. If you have additional information on the tag, or close up photographs with a quarter on the back, others may be able to tell you a little more than I can.

Thanks for bringing this example to the forum!

Sincerely,

David
Co-Founder of RugRag