Antique Sarough | 198 x 133 cm | Nr. 19392

Floral antique Sarough, rust red with an all-over pattern, central medallion and border

Origin	Persia
Dimensions	198 cm x 133 cm (= 2.63 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: wool (hand-spun, natural dyes) Weft & Warp: cotton
knots per m²2	360.000
Pile height	5mm
Year of manufacture	1920
Colour	Rust red, Dark blue
Edition	one-of-a-kind piece

 

Origin

This rug comes from Sarough (also written Sarouk, Saruk or Sarogh). Sarough is one of the best-known rug-knotting regions in Iran. Located in the western Persian province of Aarak, it takes in the provenances Arak, Djozan, Ghiasabad, Mahal, Malayer, Mohajeran, Sultanabad and Wiss. In Sarough, Persian patterns of every kind are knotted, in part also to the customer's own specifications. Particular favourites are the neighbouring Farahan patterns as well as the region's own Sultanabad designs and the so-called Mir-i-Boteh pattern made up of paisley motifs. Typical of this type of rug is the very good wool quality of the pile, as the new wool comes from the Persian highlands. The foundation – warp and weft – is usually cotton, however. In old and antique rugs you will often find a blue weft thread. The knotting is very fine and the pile relatively high. This antique Sarough is a collector's piece. It is around 100 years old, and that alone makes it a truly special piece. Antique rugs like this Sarough are as popular as ever and fetch top prices at renowned auction houses.

 

Pattern

The lavish floral motifs of this Sarough are elegant and wonderfully varied. The graceful plant symbols, depicting blossoms, leaves and branches, are artfully intertwined.

The edge of the rug is graced by a surround (border). The border forms a wonderful contrast to the centre.

The recurring pattern (known as a repeat pattern) flatters the design of the room and never steals attention from the furniture, the décor or the architectural elements. It creates a pleasant atmosphere without dominating the style of the room. In this Sarough, the repeating elements find their centre in the middle of the field, in the symmetrical medallion.

The surface of this Sarough looks gently mottled. The shifts in tone and the light-and-dark shading of the pile yarn make the colours shimmer and keep the rug forgiving of dirt. These so-called colour shifts, known as abrash, give the rug a livelier look. The mottling comes about because the wool of this Sarough was hand-spun. During dyeing, the natural dyes are taken up to differing degrees.

The background of this Sarough is rust red. The border is worked in dark blue and light brown. In the light brown centre, light blue and dark blue are combined.

 

Condition

You are not the first to take a liking to this Sarough. It had owners before you who valued and used it. It was hand-knotted around 1920. We have cleaned it thoroughly and restored it with care. Despite its age, it is therefore in very good condition.

 

Material

The technique used to make the materials for the pile of this Sarough is more than 200 years old. The wool was dyed with natural dyes and spun by hand. Dyeing with natural or plant dyes is more complicated, more expensive and more time-consuming than dyeing with chemical dyes. For a luminous red, for example, you need around one kilo of ground madder root as dyestuff per kilo of wool. For a strong yellow that isn't too pale, you even need two kilograms of weld per kilo of wool. Spinning the wool is just as time-consuming and labour-intensive. And fewer and fewer people still master the art of spinning wool by hand.

But the effort is worth it: dyeing with natural dyes allows the high-quality wool to keep its natural lanolin content. Wool dyed with natural dyes and spun by hand produces fascinating, shifting patterns. The charm of hand-spun wool, with its slight irregularities and natural shades, works beautifully as a contrast in modern interiors, but equally in rooms furnished in a more traditional or country style. The weft and warp threads of this Sarough are made of cotton. This versatile material is tear-resistant and elastic, which makes it especially suited to a hard-wearing foundation weave.