6'7" x 6'9" Persian Sarouk Rug | Square Navy Blue All-Over Floral | 1990s Wool Pile

A true square is one of the hardest shapes to find in a handmade Persian rug, and this one measures 6'7" x 6'9", close enough to dead square that it reads perfectly balanced from any side of the room. The field is a deep navy blue, filled edge to edge with an all-over floral drawing in tan, cream and teal, and framed by a wide tan border of flowering vines. It was woven in the 1990s on a cotton foundation with a 100% wool pile, and the weave is tight and even, with the low clipped finish that lets the drawing stay crisp. Condition is excellent throughout, the fringes are original and the sides are firm. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming the origin, materials and hand-knotted construction. For background on the type, our guide to Persian Sarouk rugs covers how the style developed and what separates a good one from a plain one.

Design and Motifs

There is no central medallion here. The weaver chose an all-over floral design, built from large serrated acanthus leaves that curl back on themselves, 8 petal rosettes set at the heart of each unit, and split palmettes that mirror left to right across the vertical axis. The repeat is laid out in 3 columns, with the center column offset so the eye keeps moving instead of locking onto one point, and the drawing runs straight off the field into the border rather than stopping at a neat frame. Tendrils and small blossoms fill the ground between the larger forms, so almost no open navy is left showing. The main border carries a continuous meander of palmettes, carnation sprays and round rosette cartouches on a tan ground, flanked by narrow guard stripes of trailing vine on ivory and navy. Corner resolutions are clean, with the border pattern turning properly at all 4 corners, which is a mark of a drawn cartoon rather than an improvised village copy.

A Navy Field Built on Tan, Teal and Cream

The ground is a dark, slightly inky navy blue that photographs almost black in the corners and opens up to a clear midnight tone under light. Against it, the floral work is drawn in warm tan and a soft salmon rose that carries most of the pattern, with cream and pale gold reserved for the largest leaves so they lift forward off the field. Teal appears in the small leaf tips and inside the rosette centers, cooling the warm tones and tying the pattern back to the blue ground, while a deeper brown outlines the vine scrolls and gives the drawing its definition. The wide border shifts the balance completely, putting tan and beige in charge with navy and teal flowers scattered across it, so the rug reads dark in the middle and light at the edge. The ivory selvage and natural cotton fringe finish it. If you are shopping the darker end of the palette, this sits comfortably among navy blue Persian rugs, but the heavy tan border keeps it from feeling heavy in a room.

Sarouk Weaving in Central Persia

Sarouk is a village in the Arak district of central Persia, and the name has stood for durable, finely drawn floral weaving for well over a century. The looms there are set with a cotton warp and weft and knotted in dense wool, then the pile is clipped low, which is exactly what you see on the back of this piece: a tight, regular knot and a clearly legible pattern from the reverse. Sarouk wool is known for taking dye deeply and for wearing slowly, so these rugs tend to hold their drawing for decades under real traffic rather than blurring. Weaving a square on a village loom also takes discipline, because the width has to be held true for the full length with no narrowing at the top, and this one stays honest from fringe to fringe. You can see the rest of our stock of hand-knotted Persian Sarouk rugs alongside it, but squares in this size come in rarely and do not stay long.