Sarough

One distinctive type from the Sarough region deserves mention, the so-called 'American' Sarough, which were imported into the United States in vast quantities between about 1914 and 1940. Rugs and carpets of this type were produced particularly in the village of Lilihan, but also all over the Arak region. These almost always have a pinkish red or 'rose' coloured ground on which is arranged a dense all-over pattern of floral sprays. All examples are asymmetrically knotted on cotton foundations, the wefts sometimes being dyed blue or red. Whilst coarser rugs of this type are sometimes referred to specifically as Lilihan and the finer examples as 'American' Saroughs, this would appear to be a false distinction with no actual justification. It should be noted that the writer A.C. Edwards, the leading source of information on late-19th and early-20th century Persian weaving, noted in his book The Persian Carpet, that in the early-20th century international rug merchants divided all the weavings from this area into three groups, regardless of which specific town or village they may have been made: the finest pieces were marketed as 'Sarough', those considered to be second grade as 'Mahal', and those of the coarsest quality as 'Mushkabad'. This trade labelling has probably given rise to much of the current confusion about these carpets.