Sarough | 210 x 133 cm | Nr. Z-4630

Floral Sarough, light red with border and medallion

Origin	Persia
Dimensions	210 cm x 133 cm (= 2.79 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: wool (hand-spun, natural dyes) Weft & Warp: cotton
knots per m²2	250.000
Pile height	8mm
Year of manufacture	1980
Colour	Light red, Light blue
Edition	one-of-a-kind piece

Origin

This rug comes from Sarough (also spelled 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. Persian patterns of every kind are knotted in Sarough, in some cases to the buyer's own specifications. Weavers there are especially fond of the neighbouring Farahan designs, of their own Sultanabad patterns and of 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, however, usually made of cotton. In old and antique rugs you will often find a blue weft thread. The knotting is very fine and the pile relatively high.

Pattern

The decorated surround (border) forms a wonderful contrast to the centre and shapes the transition at the edge of the rug.

At the heart of this Sarough's central field lies the symmetrical centrepiece, also known as the medallion. The design of the field is subordinate to the medallion, so that the medallion seems to float on the field.

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 background of this Sarough is light red. The border is worked in beige, turquoise and light red.

Condition

You are not the first to take a liking to this Sarough. It had owners before you who valued it and used it. There are a few stains to report. The fringes could do with a repair. The edges are damaged in places. This affects a length of 4cm. It was hand-knotted around 1980. We have cleaned it thoroughly and restored it with care. It is therefore – despite its age – in very good condition.

Material

The technique used to make the materials for this Sarough's pile 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 colours. 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 is not too pale, you even need two kilograms of the dyestuff weld per kilo of wool. Spinning the wool is labour-intensive and takes time, too. And fewer and fewer people still know how to spin 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.