Sarouq Rugs: The Definitive Guide

Sarouq (Sarouk) rugs are woven in the small town of Saruk, Central Persia, around 30 miles north of Sultanabad. Sarouq rugs came to fame and large production quantities in the 20th century, Persian rugs had just started to be mass exported to Europe and America, and antique Sarouq rugs had caught the eye of many western buyers.

Typical Designs of Sarouq Rugs

Sarouq rugs do not posses their own unique design; they typically have a curvilinear pattern, similar to Isfahan carpets, using the Shah Abassi floral design as the main motif for these rugs.

Rugs woven in Sarouq have also been known to copy the designs of some Tabriz rugs depicting hunting scenes and pictoral scenes. These however are less common than the rugs with floral designs.

True antique Sarouq rugs are highly sought after in today’s market, they have floral a central medallion with a deep colours and vibrant borders. These rugs are of an extremely high quality matching those of Isfahan, Tabriz, Nain etc.

American Sarouq Rugs

As mentioned earlier in the early 20th century the Western world became encapsulated by the world of Persian rugs. There were many grand exhibitions of Persian rugs in Vienna & London, and one of the most predominate rugs to be featured was the Sarouq rug.

The antique Sarouq rug was quickly exported out of Iran and in to many homes across America. However once the number of Antique rugs started to dwindle the demand for these rugs did not. An antique Sarouq can be seen below;

The new Sarouq rugs whilst attractive to the Western market were not the right colours for their homes, these carpets were further dyed/painted to change the colours of the rug, to match the Western tastes, thus creating the American Sarouq.

An example of an American Sarouq can be seen below;

These rugs have predominantly deep/dirty red colours for the background of the rug and dark blue/navy borders.

An example of a modern American Sarouq can be seen below;

Materials Used to Weave Sarouq Rugs

Typically Sarouq rugs are woven with a cotton warp and woolen weft. As Sarouq rugs are never normally at the quality level of a Qum, Kashan or other city piece they don’t use silk in their rugs.

Buying Tips

Modern Sarouq rugs are good quality but not extremely fine
Typically Sarouq carpets have a curvilinear floral design
Rugs woven in the surrounding area that are higher quality than usual are given the Sarouq moniker but are not Sarouqs these include;