6'10" x 10'7" Persian Sarouk Rug | Navy All-Over Floral Field | 1980s, Excellent Condition

A navy ground with this much drawing on it is unusual for a Sarouk, and it is what makes this 6'10" x 10'7" piece worth a second look. The field is an inky midnight blue, packed edge to edge with detached floral sprays in rose, ivory, apricot and olive, with a small ivory lozenge holding the exact center. Woven in the 1980s, the wool pile is still full and lustrous with no low spots, the sides and ends are original, and the cotton fringe is clean. It reads as a true room size rug, sitting comfortably in the family of 7 x 10 Persian rugs that anchor a seating group without swallowing the floor. If you want the background on the type before you buy, our guide to Persian Sarough rugs covers the weave and the trade history. Every rug we ship leaves with a certificate of authenticity recording size, origin, materials and knotting.

Design and Motifs

The field is built on a soft ogee lattice, each compartment filled with a bouquet of open roses, tulip heads, serrated leaves and small palmettes drawn in the plump, slightly naturalistic manner that Sarouk weavers are known for. Nothing repeats mechanically: the sprays tilt and vary from row to row, and at the 4 corners of the field the lattice resolves into curling vine tips rather than a hard stop. The center holds a small ivory diamond cartouche with a single red rosette at its heart, ringed by a wreath of blossoms and two flanking arabesque scrolls, so the rug reads as an all over pattern with a quiet focal point instead of a dominant medallion. The main border runs on an ivory ground with an alternating meander of pink roses and deep blue flowerheads on a thin brown vine, framed by rose-red bands carrying a rosette and leaf repeat, then a narrow barber pole stripe and a pair of fine navy guard lines that lock the whole composition together.

Colors in Detail

Navy blue is the main color, a deep saturated indigo that photographs almost black in low light and opens up to a clear midnight blue under a lamp, which is exactly what you want behind pale flowers. Against it the palette is warm: a soft salmon rose that carries most of the blossoms, a stronger brick red in the border bands and rosette centers, and cream to ivory whites in the petals and the center cartouche. Beige and ivory take over the main border ground, which is what lifts the rug off a dark floor. Orange shows up as apricot and burnt amber in the leaf tips and calyxes, and green appears in two registers, a grass green in the fresh leaves and a muted olive in the older vine work. Small notes of sky blue and teal sit inside the flowerheads and keep the warm tones from going flat. The dyes have mellowed evenly with age, with no abrash break across the field and no fading along the edges.

Origin and Weave

Sarouk is a village north of Arak in west central Persia, and the name covers the finest of the weaving done across that district. The wool from this region is heavy and high in lanolin, which is why Sarouk pile wears down slowly and keeps a soft sheen for decades. This piece is hand-knotted on a cotton foundation with the dense, tightly packed Persian knot typical of the workshop grade, fine enough to carry curved vine and small petal detail cleanly, as the close-up of the center makes clear, yet heavy enough in handle that the rug lies flat on its own. Look at the back and the knot rows are straight and even from selvage to selvage, the mark of an experienced weaver working a good cartoon rather than a rushed commercial run. Wool pile, cotton warp and weft, natural sheep wool fringe, and a weave built for generations of use in a real room.