7' x 10'4" Persian Sarouk Rug | Navy Blue All Over Floral Field | 1980s Semi Antique

This is a hand-knotted piece from the 1980s, woven in the Arak district of central Persia in the drawing tradition that made Persian Sarouk rugs the most requested floral weave in American homes for the better part of a century. The wool pile stands at 3/8", still dense and even across the whole 7' x 10'4" surface, knotted on a cotton foundation with the original ivory fringe intact at both ends. At this scale it sits squarely in the most useful proportion in the house, which is why 7x10 Persian rugs move faster than any other size we carry. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

There is no medallion here. The weaver filled the field with detached floral sprays, curled acanthus leaves, pomegranate blossoms and small vases of flowers, each one drawn as a separate bouquet and set in staggered rows so the eye keeps moving across the surface. Look closely at the center and the sprays lock together into a faint lattice of lobed diamonds, an all over floral design that reads as one continuous garden rather than a repeat. Serrated palmettes anchor the vertical axis, 4 corners carry their own smaller sprays, and the main border runs a procession of rosettes and split leaves linked by a thin meandering vine. Two narrow guard stripes on either side of the border carry a smaller rosette chain that keeps the frame from overwhelming the field.

The Navy Field, Salmon Border and Sky Blue Guards

The ground is a saturated navy blue, deep enough in the corners to look almost inky and lifting to a clear indigo where the light catches the pile. Against it the flowers are worked in soft salmon pink, dusty rose, chalk ivory, warm beige and a bright sky blue that sparks through the leaf tips. Small accents of brick red and deep aubergine sit inside the larger blossoms and give the bouquets weight. The main border reverses the scheme completely: a wide salmon pink ground carrying ivory and navy flowerheads, framed top and bottom by sky blue guard bands. That pink to navy contrast is the signature Sarouk color statement, warm and cool at once, and it is what allows this rug to sit beside both cream upholstery and dark wood without fighting either.

Sarouk Weaving in Central Persia

Sarouk is a village northeast of Arak in Markazi province, and the name came to cover the finest floral weaving of that whole district. The looms there are known for a heavy, tightly packed wool pile on a cotton warp and weft, a construction built for decades of traffic rather than for display, and for a drawing style that keeps curved floral lines legible without chasing extreme knot counts. The back of this piece shows that discipline clearly: straight, regular rows, tight selvedges and no pull along the ends. Pieces from the 1980s are now crossing into semi antique territory, which is the point at which the wool has softened and gained luster but the pile has plenty of life left. As a size, a 1980s Sarouk in the 7x10 range is the classic American living room and dining room rug, and this one is ready to use as it stands.