10' x 13'3" Persian Sarouk Rug | Red & Navy Floral Medallion | Semi-Antique Wool Pile

This is the kind of room-size piece that older Persian Sarouk rugs were made for: a long crimson field, a single commanding medallion, and heavy navy corners that square the whole thing off. It measures 10' x 13'3", hand-knotted on a cotton foundation with a 3/8" wool pile that still stands full and even across the field, with original selvages and clean cotton fringe at both ends. The back shown in the last photo tells you everything about how it was built: tight, regular knotting with clear design definition pulled all the way through to the reverse. At 10' x 13'3" it belongs in the practical sweet spot of 10x13 Persian rugs, large enough to seat a full sofa group with the furniture legs on the wool. Every rug we ship leaves Freeport with a certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The drawing is classic Sarouk formality without any stiffness. At the center sits a stepped ivory and navy medallion with small cross arms at the four cardinal points, built around a rose-red cartouche filled with 8 petal rosettes and paired leaf forms. Around it, ivory arabesque scrollwork curls outward in heavy, confident strokes, the single most recognizable Sarouk habit. Above and below the medallion, two pendant palmettes anchor the long axis, while the open field carries loose sprays of carnations, rosettes and curling vine on slender stems, drawn sparsely so the red has room to breathe. The 4 corner spandrels are solid navy, each filled with large serrated palmettes and vine, and they cut into the field with a notched, stepped outline rather than a smooth curve. The main border repeats alternating palmettes and blossoms on navy, flanked by ivory guard stripes carrying a running meander of small flowerheads, with 2 further minor stripes on each side framing the composition.

A Crimson Field Framed in Deep Navy

The field is a clear, slightly cool crimson red, bright under direct light in the studio photo and settling to a deeper wine tone on the floor, which is normal for a good wool dye lot of this age. Against it, the borders and spandrels read as a near-ink navy blue, dark enough to look almost black where the pile falls away from the light. The medallion and guard stripes bring in the third note, a soft buttery ivory that is the reason the center reads so clearly from across a room. Smaller accents do the detail work: dusty rose and salmon in the border blossoms, olive and sage green in the leaves, pale sky blue in a few palmette hearts, and touches of camel and gold in the vine work. It is a strong, traditional palette that sits naturally alongside other red and burgundy Persian rugs, and it carries dark wood, brass and leather particularly well.

Sarouk Weaving and the Villages of Arak

Sarouk is a village in the Markazi province of central Persia, north of Arak, and it gave its name to a whole group of weavings produced in the surrounding villages. The reputation rests on two things: a dense, firm handle from a tight Persian knot pulled on a cotton foundation, and local wool with real body and lanolin, which is why Sarouk floors from the first half of the 20th century are still in service generations later. Weavers here worked from a set vocabulary of medallion and floral drawing rather than one-off cartoons, so the better pieces are judged on the crispness of the arabesque and the balance of the open field, both of which this piece handles well. The semi-antique age shows in the right places: a mellowed red, a pile that has already taken its wear and stopped shedding, and a rug that has proven it lays flat. Compare it against our other Persian Sarouk rugs and the weave quality here speaks for itself.