4'7" x 7'5" Antique Persian Sarouk Mohajeran Rug | 1930s Salmon Red Floral Field | Wool Pile

This 4'7" x 7'5" antique Sarouk was woven in the 1930s, the decade when the Sarouk weaving district was turning out its most carefully drawn floral work, and the fine Mohajeran-grade drawing is visible the moment you look at the field: every flowering branch is outlined in dark indigo, every rosette sits on its own stem, and nothing is rushed or simplified. The pile is natural wool on a cotton foundation, still full and lustrous after roughly 90 years, with the original hand-tied ivory fringe intact at both ends. At this scale it sits comfortably in the most useful footprint for a home, which is why 5x7 Persian rugs of this age are so hard to find in honest condition. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity recording origin, age, materials and measurements.

Design and Motifs

The salmon field is drawn as an all over garden of detached flowering sprays: slender brown and olive branches rise from the lower end and fan outward, carrying 8 petal rosettes, half open blossoms, serrated lanceolate leaves and small boteh paisleys. A navy reserve wraps the field like a cusped frame, so the salmon ground reads as an arched panel with flowering corner pieces set into the dark surround, and a compact lobed medallion in sapphire and indigo anchors the center, filled with its own coral palmettes and pale green vine. The borders run 7 bands deep: a wide navy main border of linked palmettes and curling leaves, flanked on both sides by gold and straw guard stripes of scrolling vine, separated by narrow ladder and rosette minor stripes in ivory and brick. The whole layout is mirrored on the long axis and drawn in curved line rather than angular village shorthand, which is the mark of the better Sarouk looms.

The Salmon Red and Indigo Blue Palette

The ground is the classic Sarouk salmon red, a warm rose terracotta that shifts with the light from dusty brick in a flat overhead view to a glowing coral under a lamp, with the gentle natural tonal variation you expect from wool dyed in small batches. Against it the drawing is almost entirely deep indigo navy, nearly black where the outlines are heaviest, lifted by a mid sapphire blue and a bright cornflower blue in the blossom centers and in the medallion. The foliage brings two greens, a soft pistachio and a darker olive, and the flowers carry brick orange, rust and a pale peach. The border palette is the most striking contrast: straw gold and ivory guard bands run the full perimeter against the navy main border, framing the warm field in cool dark and light. Plain ivory cotton fringe finishes both ends, and the pink red selvedge wrap is visible along the sides.

Sarouk Weaving and the Mohajeran Grade

Sarouk is a village west of Arak in west central Persia, in the old Sultanabad weaving district, and its looms built their reputation on a dense Persian knot laid on a stout cotton foundation with a heavy beat-down, producing a rug that is thick, firm and famously long lived. Mohajeran is the quality tier within that tradition: a finer knot count, workshop-level drawing of curved vine and floral spray, and high lanolin local wool that keeps its sheen rather than going dry. The reverse of this piece shows tight, even rows with no slack or looseness, and the pile has worn down evenly rather than in patches, which is the honest sign of a well made weaving that was used and cared for. If you want the background on the district and its quality grades, read our guide to antique Persian Sarouk rugs, and our guide on how to date an antique rug explains the dyes, wear pattern and construction clues that place this one in the 1930s.