9'10" x 13'3" Persian Sarouk Rug | Open Red Field with Navy Floral Medallion | Excellent Condition

This is the kind of room-size piece that made Persian Sarouk rugs the standard formal floor covering in American houses for a century: a wide open red field, a single strong medallion, and a border deep enough to frame the whole room. It measures 9'10" x 13'3", hand-knotted knot by knot on a cotton foundation with a 3/8" wool pile that still stands full and even across the field, with no low spots and clean, original selvages and fringe. Scale like this sits comfortably under a 10 seat dining table or floats a full seating group, which puts it squarely with the 10x13 Persian rugs most buyers are hunting for. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming origin, materials and hand-knotted construction.

Design and Motifs

The drawing follows the classic medallion and corner formula, but the weaver had the confidence to leave most of the field empty. At center sits a 16 lobed floral medallion built in concentric rings: an 8 point star rosette at the core, a turquoise cartwheel of leaf forms around it, then a ring of ivory palmettes outlined in coral, all set against a navy ground crowded with curling gold leafwork. Slender pendants extend north and south from the medallion, each ending in a small bouquet, and two lance shaped floral sprays reach east and west into the open red. The 4 corners carry light blue spandrels filled with rose sprays, serrated leaves and fine vine scrolls, and their inner edges are finished with a scalloped, tooth like outline that draws the eye back to the center. The main border is navy, filled with alternating palmettes, cross shaped rosettes and paired curled leaves, and it is held between ivory guard stripes of running vine and a narrow barber pole stripe that keeps the whole composition tidy.

A Study in Red, Navy and Light Blue

The field is a true madder red, warm rather than orange, and because it is left open you can see the wool itself working: the pile catches light differently along its length, so the red shifts slightly from deeper brick near the ends to a brighter cherry across the center. That gentle variation is the mark of naturally dyed, hand-spun wool and it is what keeps a large plain field from looking printed. Against it, the navy of the medallion and main border reads almost black in shadow and opens into ink blue in direct light. The light blue spandrels are the surprise of the rug, a pale sky tone that cools the whole composition and makes the red look richer by contrast. Threaded through both are ivory and soft cream, coral pink in the rose heads, an olive gold in the leaf scrolls, a touch of sage green, and small accents of turquoise in the medallion core. It is a red rug that works with navy upholstery, brass, and warm woods without going heavy.

Sarouk Weaving in Central Persia

Sarouk is a village north of Arak in central Persia, and its looms have been supplying the West with formal room-size rugs since the late 19th century. The Sarouk reputation rests on substance: a heavy cotton warp and weft, tightly packed wool knots, and a thick clipped pile that gives the rug real weight in the hand and real staying power underfoot. This example shows that build clearly. The back is even and legible, the knot lines run straight across a 118" width with no waisting, and the curved outlines of the medallion and spandrels are drawn cleanly, which takes a disciplined weaver at this scale. Pieces from this group were made to live in dining rooms and entry halls for generations, and with a full pile and excellent condition, this one has most of its life still ahead of it.