10'3" x 10'9" Persian Mir Saraband Square Rug | All-Over Boteh on Rust Red | Excellent Condition

This is a true square, 10'3" x 10'9", woven in the Mir Saraband tradition, which is one of the most disciplined repeat patterns in Persian weaving. The rust red field carries hundreds of small boteh, each leaning at the same angle and separated by the same measured gap, so the surface reads like a fine printed textile until you get close enough to see the knots. Genuine handmade squares are scarce at any size, and a square this large is the piece people hunt for when a room refuses to accept a standard rectangle. The wool pile is full and even, the handle is firm, and the rug ships with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The field is a classic Mir boteh repeat, the teardrop paisley that gave this group its reputation, set in tight staggered rows with no medallion and no open ground. Each boteh is drawn with a curled tip, an outlined body and a speckled interior, and the rows tilt in alternating directions so the eye keeps moving across the surface. This is the purest form of an all-over boteh design, which is why square Saraband pieces sit so comfortably under a round dining table or a large square coffee table. The border system is the second half of the story: a broad ivory main band carrying stylised figures and floral vine, flanked by indigo bands of small rosettes, narrow gold and green guard stripes, a reciprocal saw-tooth line and a plain rust outer edge that frames the whole thing. Count them in the corner photograph and there are 7 distinct bands between the field and the fringe, all turning the corner cleanly.

Rust Red Field with Indigo, Ivory and Salmon

The ground is a warm rust red, closer to terracotta and brick than to a cool burgundy, and it shifts very slightly in tone across the width the way naturally dyed village wool does. Inside that field each boteh combines 3 readings: a salmon pink body, a dark indigo outline that anchors the shape, and flecks of pale sky blue and ivory that lift the interior and keep the repeat from going flat. The main border reverses the balance, putting ivory in charge with salmon, brick and dark blue figures drawn on top of it, while the guard stripes bring in a soft gold green that appears nowhere else in the rug. White cotton fringe finishes both ends against the plain rust selvage band. The overall effect in a room is warm rather than loud, and the red carries well with walnut, oak and dark leather.

Woven in the Saraband District of Persia

Saraband is a group of weaving villages in west central Persia, south of Arak, in the same province that produces Persian Sarough rugs. Within that group the name Mir is reserved for the better weaving, the pieces where the boteh stay uniform row after row and the borders hold their spacing over a long run. That discipline is what separates a Mir from an ordinary Saraband, and it is visible on this rug in the corner resolution and in the straight run of the guard stripes. The back photograph tells you the rest: tight, even knotting on a cotton foundation, clean pattern definition from behind, and no slack or wavy areas, which is the mark of a rug woven on a properly tensioned loom. Wool of this kind from the Arak villages is dense and slightly lanolin rich, so it takes foot traffic well and keeps its lustre for decades.