10' x 13' Persian Sarough Rug | Red & Ivory Floral Medallion | Semi Antique, Excellent Condition

This is a room-size Sarough in the size most American houses are actually built for, a true 10' x 13' that fills a formal living or dining room without crowding the walls. The pile is 3/8" wool on a cotton foundation, still even from end to end, with the low, compact surface and quiet sheen you only get from wool that has been walked on carefully for decades and never abused. The red has softened into a warm brick tone, the ivory has gone the color of old parchment, and the drawing is still crisp everywhere, including the guard stripes. Photographs 11 and 12 show the weave up close and the back tag in the last image carries the original inventory number. It ships with a certificate of authenticity, and if you are shopping 10x13 Persian rugs for a main room, this is a rare condition grade at this age.

Design and Motifs

A small ivory diamond medallion sits dead center, its core a navy cartouche holding an 8 petal rosette in salmon and camel, with lotus blooms rising above and below it. What makes the rug read as generous rather than formal is the field: instead of a large open ground, the weaver filled it with a dense all over floral lattice of scrolling vines, split palmettes, sunflower rosettes and serrated leaves, so the medallion floats inside the pattern rather than dominating it. Two ivory pendant cartouches anchor the vertical axis. The 4 corners carry navy spandrels drawn with vase and blossom motifs, and the wide ivory main border runs a repeating arabesque of navy vinework and palmettes, framed inside and out by narrow rosette meanders and a reciprocal saw-tooth stripe that keeps the whole composition tight.

The Red and Ivory Palette

The field is a true Sarough red, closer to brick and tomato than to burgundy, with a gentle lightening toward the upper end of the field that is natural abrash from hand-dyed wool rather than fade. Against it, the drawing works in two distinct blues: a deep indigo that outlines the vines and fills the corner spandrels, and a brighter medium sky blue used for the larger rosettes and leaf forms, which is what gives the field its lift in daylight. Ivory does the structural work, holding the main border, the medallion and the small blossoms scattered through the field, and it has warmed to a soft cream with a faint gold cast. Salmon pink and camel appear as accent tones inside the border palmettes and around the medallion rosette. In practice the rug reads red from across the room and reveals the blues up close, which is why it sits comfortably with both navy upholstery and cream seating, as the two room photos show.

Sarough Origin and Weaving Quality

Sarough is a village in the Markazi region of west-central Persia, north of Arak, and it gave its name to one of the most heavily exported weaving groups in Persian history. Persian Sarough rugs are built for use: a stout cotton warp and weft, wool of famously high lanolin content, and a dense beat-down that produces a thick, heavy, stiff handle. That construction is the reason so many Sarough pieces from the first half of the 20th century are still in service today while lighter weaves from the same era have gone thin. On this one the pile depth is uniform, the selvedges are intact and the ends are secure, all good indicators of age and care for anyone learning how to date an oriental rug by construction rather than by pattern alone. This is a workhorse weave carrying a workshop-quality drawing, and it will take another generation of family traffic.