Guide to Sarouk Rugs & Carpets
First time published in Oriental
Rug Notes. This short extract of the original
article is republished by courtesy of the author J. Barry
O'Connell.
Of
all Persian rugs and carpets perhaps the most beloved in the United States
are the Sarouk carpets. Between the World Wars this was the
quintessential American rug. It is popular to condemn the American Sarouk
as a travesty but in my opinion it is just a commercial response to the
American market.
Trade names for Sarouks include: Feraghan, Viss, Mohajaran
Sarouk, Sarouk, Mahal, Mushkabad.
Style and Quality in Sarouk Rugs
Sarouk rugs are made in a rather narrow range of styles
and qualities. Rarely do you see poor quality rugs they are also
rarely any better that good quality. It is unheard of to see Sarouks in
the same grades as the best Isfahan or Kerman rugs and carpets. I can not
remember a workshop grade Sarouk and there is no sign of the fine cartoon
designers that we see in other cities. The Sarouk from the 1900 at least
seems to have been designed by Westerners.
The
American Sarouk
With the loss of the European market in W.W.I the market shifted to a
rug called The American Sarouk . As Cecil Edwards told us in The Persian
Carpet The American Sarouk had certain distinctive characteristics that
made it popular: P. R. J. Ford suggests that the American Sarouk was
originally produced by Mr. S. Tyriakian the Arak representative of K. S.
Taushandjian of New York in the early 1920s.
Feraghan
Sarouks
Prior to the introduction of the American Sarouk these
carpets represented the best of the Sarouk production. They were
attributed to the village of Feraghan but were likely made in a number of
villages.
Once the American Sarouk took off these began to
disappear. These pieces are highly desirable in today's market and this
one sold for just over 500 dollar per square foot ($74,000) at
Sotheby's New York, when it went up for auction in 1998.
These pieces are very similar to the Mohtashem Kashans in
handle and structure. An attribution clue is that that Mohtashem Kashans
have lavender silk selvages.
Mahal
Carpet
From the collection of the Mosque of the Imam Reza.
This is a Mahal Carpet (left). Mahal is a grade of
Sarouk that is thinner than an American Sarouk. This is one of the rugs de-accessioned
from the collection of the Mosque of the Imam Reza when the Mosque sold
off pieces of it's collection to raise funds.
Read more
at Oriental Rug Notes.
Kashan rugs at Jozan Educational
Gallery.
