6'10" x 7' Persian Sarouk Square Rug | Rose-Maroon Floral Field, Teal Borders | Excellent Condition

A true square is one of the hardest things to find in a handmade rug, and at 6'10" x 7" wide by 7' long this Sarouk reads as a clean 7x7 on the floor. The field is a deep rose-maroon packed edge to edge with flowering vine, four blue diamond sub-medallions and a crisp ivory star medallion at the center, all framed by a teal blue main border. It is hand-knotted in wool on a cotton foundation, the pile is full and even with no low spots, and the ends and sides are original. If you have been looking at square Persian rugs for a bay window, a square seating group or a landing, this is the format that solves the room instead of fighting it. Every rug we ship leaves Freeport with its certificate of authenticity.

Design and Motifs

The drawing is classic Sarouk floral, laid out with the mirrored symmetry the village weavers are known for. At the center sits an 8 petal ivory star medallion with a small rose cartouche inside it, outlined in navy so it lifts clean off the field. Around it the weaver set 4 large blue lobed diamonds, one toward each corner, each one filled with rosettes and serrated leaves, and then filled every remaining inch with detached flower sprays, curling vines, tiny buds and leaf tips. The 4 corners carry ivory spandrels drawn as flowering branches rather than solid blocks, which keeps the square field from feeling boxed in. Borders run in three bands: a narrow brown guard stripe with a running vine, a wide teal main border alternating octagonal rosettes with geometric cross forms and arrowhead palmettes, and an outer ivory meander. Because the composition is centered on both axes, the rug looks correct from all 4 sides, which matters when furniture sits around it.

The Maroon, Rose and Teal Palette

The field is the heart of it: a maroon rose, warm and slightly dusty, closer to old garden rose than to a hard tomato red, with the wool breaking light so the tone moves between deeper maroon and soft salmon as you walk around it. Against that ground the weaver worked a teal blue that is noticeably greener and lighter than standard Persian indigo, used for the main border and for the 4 diamond sub-medallions, and a near-black navy for outlines and the smaller blossoms. Ivory does the structural work, carrying the center medallion, the corner spandrels and the border flower heads, so the eye always knows where the design begins and ends. Chocolate brown frames the border bands, while accents of pale pink, apricot, soft gold and a touch of green appear in the small flowers scattered through the field. The combination of rose-maroon and teal is unusually decorator friendly: it sits well with walnut and mahogany, with cream or putty walls, and with blue upholstery that would clash under a pure red field.

Sarouk Weaving in Central Persia

Sarouk is a village in the Arak district of central Persia, and for more than a century the weavers there and in the surrounding settlements have produced some of the most durable floral rugs in the country. The construction is the reason: a heavy cotton foundation, a tight symmetrical knot and a wool pile left thick enough to take decades of real traffic, which is why so many Persian Sarouk rugs from American homes are still sound two or three generations later. This piece shows that hand clearly. The back photograph reveals even, regular knotting with no pulling or puckering, the selvedges are intact, and the weave is dense enough to hold the fine detached flower sprays without the drawing going soft. Square looms were less common and harder to balance, so a correct 7x7 Sarouk with this much detail in the field is a piece a weaver took time over.