7'2" x 10'7" Persian Sarouk Rug | All Over Floral Sprays | 1980s Coral Red Field

This is the Sarouk look that built the type's reputation in America: a warm coral red ground carried edge to edge with detached floral sprays, framed by a wide cream border. Woven in the 1980s on a cotton foundation with a full 3/8" wool pile, the rug measures 7'2" x 10'7" and sits comfortably in the 7 x 10 Persian rug range that suits most sitting rooms and dining rooms. The wool is glossy rather than dry, the drawing is confident, and the selvages and hand-tied fringe are intact with no repairs or reweaves visible in any of the photographs. Every rug we ship carries a certificate of authenticity documenting origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

There is no medallion here in the usual sense. Instead the weaver worked a classic all over floral design built from detached sprays that float on open ground: curved paisley leaves, serrated leaf wreaths that arch like open arms, and small vases sending up tulips, carnations and 8 petal rosettes. At the center, two mirrored botanical clusters meet at a single navy rosette, with grape-like clusters of small round blossoms above and below, so the eye still finds a focal point without a formal medallion outline. The two ends repeat a larger vase-and-wreath motif that reads clearly from a doorway. The main border runs a cream ground with alternating navy palmettes and red tulip buds on thin vines, held by 4 guard stripes of rosettes and reciprocal scrolls. The drawing stays curvilinear throughout, with no straight-line geometry anywhere in the field.

The Coral Red Field and Its Palette

The ground is a coral red with a soft rose undertone, a lighter and warmer red than the brick tones of eastern Persian weaving, and it carries a gentle abrash that keeps the open areas alive rather than flat. Against it the motifs are drawn in deep navy blue and a mid indigo, with cream and beige outlines giving each leaf a lit edge. Olive green, soft brown and a clay red fill the smaller blossoms and buds, and a handful of ivory rosettes with navy centers punctuate the field. The wide border reverses the scheme: a pale cream to beige ground with navy palmettes, brick red buds and green stems, which frames the coral field and stops it from reading heavy. The overall effect is warm and rosy rather than dark, so the rug lifts a room with navy, olive, walnut or oak furniture instead of competing with it.

Sarouk Weaving in Central Persia

Sarouk is a village northwest of Arak in central Persia, and its weavers have supplied the American market longer than almost any other Persian type. Persian Sarouk rugs are known for three things: a heavy, tightly packed wool pile that wears for generations, a cotton foundation that keeps the rug flat and square, and the floral spray vocabulary seen across this field. The back of this piece shows even, disciplined knotting with clean, straight rows and no pulling at the ends, which is what allows the 3/8" pile to stand up rather than lean. Local wool from the Arak plateau takes dye well and keeps its luster, and you can see that in the sheen across the open red ground in the raking-light photographs. It is a well-drawn, honest village weaving from a town that has been doing this particular design better than anyone for a century.