Antique Persian Sarouk Hand-Knotted Wool Rug, Early 20th C., 82" × 53"

A hand-knotted Persian Sarouk worked at a dense 208 knots per square inch on a deep raspberry-red field. The all-over detached-floral composition — the defining vocabulary of Sarouk weaving — fills the field with sprays of stylized blossoms, palmettes, and leafy vines in navy, sky blue, gold, ivory, and rose. A navy main border carries alternating floral heads framed by gold and red guard stripes, the whole anchored by the saturated madder ground that made Sarouk carpets the dominant American import during the 1920s and 1930s. The reverse reveals tight, even knotting with the polychrome drawing reading clearly through the cotton foundation — a structural quality that distinguishes the better Sarouk production from its period.

Sarouk weaving emerged from the villages and workshops of the Markazi Province in west-central Iran, with the American-market Sarouk developing its characteristic detached-bouquet layout specifically to suit the decorating tastes of the interwar United States. Importers such as the American Oriental Rug Company promoted the format aggressively, and the deep rose-red ground achieved through Turkey-red and madder dyes became synonymous with the type. At scatter-rug proportions — 82" × 53" — this piece would have served an entryway, bedroom, or layered arrangement. Unmarked, as was typical of the trade production. The secondary image shows the pile in cross-section; the supplemental close-ups confirm genuine hand-knotting with individual wool tufts tied to a visible warp-and-weft foundation.

CONDITION

Fair. General discoloration and pile wear throughout, with isolated areas worn to the thread base. The selvedge shows wear and there is a 5" tear along one side; fringe is absent on both ends.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Overall: 82" × 53"
• Knot Density: 208 KPI (hand-knotted)
• Pile: Wool
• Origin: Persian Sarouk, Markazi Province, Iran
• Period: Early 20th century (1920s–1930s)
• Unmarked