10' x 13'6" Persian Sarough Rug | Red Field, Ivory Spandrels, Navy Medallion | Semi-Antique, Excellent Condition

This is a room size Persian Sarough measuring 10' x 13'6", hand-knotted in wool on a cotton foundation with a 3/8" pile that still stands up evenly across the whole field. It is the kind of rug that was woven to furnish a formal room and then survive it: dense handle, firm selvages, clean ends, and a raspberry red ground that has mellowed just enough to read as older rather than new. The drawing is fully curvilinear, built around one navy medallion with large ivory spandrels pulled in from the corners, and the borders are tight and well resolved on all 4 sides. At 120" x 162" it covers a 10x14 footprint, so it sits comfortably under a long dining table or anchors a full seating group with pile to spare on every side. Every rug we ship carries our certificate of authenticity confirming origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

A lobed navy medallion sits dead center, filled with an ivory and soft grey cartouche of rosettes and curling leaf tips, and finished top and bottom with small navy pendants that reach out into the field. Around it the red ground is not left empty: slender vine stems carry palmettes, split leaves, serrated carnation sprays and small 8 petal rosettes outward in a balanced mirror repeat, with a pair of larger shield palmettes flanking the medallion on each long side. The ivory spandrels are the showpiece of the drawing, stepped and scalloped rather than plain quarter arcs, packed with scrolling arabesque, dark green lotus palmettes and boteh forms outlined in navy. The main border repeats a red ground procession of rosettes, curved cloudband scrolls and ivory cartouche panels, held between narrow guard stripes of reciprocal floral meander. Corners resolve properly, which on a 13'6" length means the weavers tracked the pattern over a long run without letting the border drift.

Color: Raspberry Red, Ivory and Deep Navy

The field is a true raspberry red, a red with a pink lean to it that brightens under daylight and turns deeper and more wine-toned in lamplight. Against it the spandrels and border cartouches read as a warm ivory, closer to old parchment than white, which is what keeps the contrast soft instead of harsh. The medallion outline, the pendants and the fine motif outlines are a deep navy blue that goes almost black where the pile is densest. Supporting shades carry the pattern: dark forest green inside the larger palmettes, a dusty grey-blue in the leaf work and the ivory panels, pale salmon and apricot in the rosette centers, and small touches of gold and soft pink in the flower heads. The palette overall is a classic red, ivory and navy formal scheme, warm and traditional, and it works well over oak, walnut and pale wood floors as shown in the photographs.

Origin and Weave: Sarough in Central Persia

Sarough is a weaving town in the Markazi district of central Persia, north of Arak, in the same belt that produced the Sultanabad and Mahal weavings. The reputation of Persian Sarough rugs rests on weight and wear rather than extreme knot count: a heavy cotton warp, thick wool wefts beaten down hard, and a short tight wool pile that resists crushing under furniture for generations. That construction is exactly what you feel here, a stiff substantial handle with the back packed and regular, visible in the detail photograph where the knot rows are measured against a ruler. The wool itself is good quality local fleece with enough lanolin left in it to hold a quiet sheen, which is why the raspberry red has aged into a softer, more collectible tone. Buyers shopping 10x14 Persian rugs for a large formal room will find this one of the more practical choices in that footprint, because a Sarough of this weight simply does not give up.