2'9" x 9'10" Persian Rudbar Runner Rug | Salmon Field, Ivory Medallions | 240-260 KPSI, Never Used

This 2'9" x 9'10" runner came out of the Rudbar weaving villages of west-central Persia and has never been laid down. The pile is full, the salmon field still carries its original bloom, and the selvedges and end finishes are intact, exactly as they left the loom. At 33 inches wide and just under 10 feet long, it is a true corridor length rather than a shortened accent piece, and at 240 to 260 knots per square inch it is drawn far more finely than most village runners of this size. The wool sits on a cotton foundation, is hand-knotted throughout, and is supple enough to lie flat in a narrow hallway without buckling. Every rug we sell ships with a certificate of authenticity documenting origin, materials and knot count.

Design and Motifs

Three ivory lozenge medallions run the length of the field, each one outlined in navy and centered on a small 8 petal rosette in wine red and green. Between and around them the field is filled edge to edge with an all-over floral drawing: serrated leaves, curling vines, tulip heads and open blossoms in blue, olive and cream, arranged with the loose symmetry that marks village work rather than a workshop cartoon. Navy pendants extend from the tips of each medallion, and dark cornerpieces anchor the two ends of the runner. The main border is an ivory band carrying a continuous meander of rosettes and leaf forms, flanked by narrow navy guard stripes on both sides, which keeps the busy field visually contained down its full 9'10" length.

A Salmon Field Read in Ivory, Navy and Olive

The ground color is a warm salmon that shifts toward rust where the light falls across the pile and toward coral in the close detail. It is an unusual base tone for a Persian runner, softer and pinker than the standard madder red, and it makes the ivory of the medallions and the border read almost white by contrast. Inside the flowers the palette is broader than the field suggests: dark blue and mid blue in the leaves, olive green in the stems and border vines, beige and cream in the blossom centers, and small touches of wine red and dark brown that give the drawing its outline. Navy is used for structure, in the medallion outlines, the spandrels and the guard stripes, so the runner holds together as a single composition instead of scattering. Against wood flooring, as shown in the full-length photograph, the salmon warms considerably and the olive border comes forward.

Rudbar Weaving and the Sarough Group

Rudbar is a small weaving settlement whose output is sold and classified within the wider Sarough group of west-central Persia, and the family resemblance is clear in the floral field, the ivory meander border and the durable, tightly packed wool. Collectors who follow Persian Sarough rugs know the weave for its density and its long service life, and our Sarough rug guide covers how the group is graded. What sets this piece apart is the knot count: 240 to 260 knots per square inch is workshop territory, well above what village runners usually reach, and it is why the small rosettes and leaf tips stay crisp instead of blurring. The back, visible in the first photograph, shows an even, fine grid with no slack rows, the mark of a weaver working carefully across a narrow loom.