Pink Persian Rugs: Where the Pink Comes From and How to Use It

By Storied Rugs6 min read

In stock now: 2006 Persian rugs

A muted pink Kerman rug with a navy border holding a linen sofa, two cane armchairs and a low walnut table, seen from high in the room

A pink Persian rug usually has a rose, dusty rose or muted pink field, the large background inside the borders. Much of that pink is a softened red rather than a dye of its own. A true pink field is uncommon in Persian weaving: about one Persian rug in fifty among ours has one, against about one Turkish rug in five. So you can look for a rare Persian piece, often a room-size Kerman, or a Turkish rug from Isparta or Manisa. Our pink rugs gather both.

Where the pink in a vintage rug comes from

The warm reds of old village and tribal rugs come mostly from the root of the madder plant.^[1] Pink in these rugs sits inside that red family. Some rugs were woven in pale rose from the start, and many began as a fuller red that has softened over fifty years. Light fades the dyes in a rug over the years.^[2] Our post on natural dyes and how vintage colors age explains why an old red eases toward rose rather than gray.

Two other kinds of pink are worth knowing about. An overdyed rug has been bleached and dyed one strong pink over the whole design. We do not sell them, and overdyed vs naturally faded rugs shows how to spot one. And some commercial Sarouks woven in salmon pink were painted a deeper red after they reached America, a story our Sarouk guide tells.

Which Persian rugs come in pink

Among our Persian rugs, a pink field turns up in a few places, and each gives a different look and size.

Kerman: the room-size pink Persian rug

If you want a pink Persian rug big enough for a living room or under a bed, start with Kerman. Ours have a rose or dusty rose field, often framed by a navy border, with cream and pale blue in the corners and the drawing. The field is often left open around a small medallion, so the pink reads as a calm color from the doorway rather than as pattern. Our Kerman guide covers how to recognize one. Kashan and Tabriz add a few dusty rose fields of their own, mostly around 6 by 9 to 8 by 11 feet.

Mashhad and Khorasan: rose, wine and magenta

Rugs from Khorasan in the northeast, Mashhad among them, have long been known for reds that lean to pink, rose or wine.^[3] The same early writer noted that their red is often magenta or even purple, colors he rarely found in other Persian rugs.^[3] In many Khorasan carpets the red was dyed with cochineal, and next to a lot of blue it gives the rug a purplish cast.^[4] This is the pink to look for if you want a strong color rather than a faded one. Our Mashhad guide covers the city’s rugs.

Small rugs and runners

Hamedan and Torkaman give most of the small pink Persian rugs, from mats about 2 by 3 feet to runners near 10 feet long. They start at about $240. A pink runner beside a bed or a mat by a dresser is an easy way to try the color first. A Persian rug of 8 by 11 feet or more in pink runs from about $2,000 to $2,700.

Turkish rugs: where most pink rugs come from

If pink is what you want and Persian is a preference rather than a rule, look at Turkish rugs. Isparta and Manisa make up most of our pink rugs. Their palettes were pale from the start, with dusty rose, muted pink, cream, sage and soft blue. Most measure between about 5 by 8 and 7 by 10 feet. They also cost far less, from about $320 to $670 at those sizes. Our Isparta guide and Manisa guide explain how the two differ.

Pink and blue Persian rugs

Blue is pink’s most familiar partner in a Persian rug. Many of our pink rugs carry blue somewhere, most often a navy border or a blue medallion. The navy matters more than it seems. It gives a pale rug a dark edge, so the rug holds its shape on a light floor instead of fading into it. In a room, a pink and blue rug lets you use blue in the furniture and pink in small things, or the other way round. If blue is the color you lean toward, our post on blue Persian rugs covers navy fields.

Pink and green Persian rugs

Green sits opposite red on the color wheel, and a complementary pair makes each color look brighter.^[5] In a pink rug the green is usually soft, a sage or celadon border or teal in the drawing. That small amount of green does a lot. It keeps a pink rug from looking sweet, and it gives you a second color to repeat in plants, a painted cabinet or a velvet chair. For a green sofa specifically, what color rug goes with your couch walks through the shades of green and the rugs that suit each.

Rooms that suit a pink rug

A bedroom is the easiest place for a pink rug. The light is soft, the traffic is light, and the rug is seen from the bed and the door rather than from every angle. A room-size Kerman can go under the bed, or a pair of small rugs can sit on each side. Our post on rug placement in the bedroom gives the distances.

A nursery or child’s room suits the faded Turkish pinks, because they look gentle without reading as a children’s color, and the pattern forgives spills. Choosing a rug for a nursery covers pile, pads and size.

In a living room, treat a dusty rose rug as a warm neutral. It sits well with oak and walnut, brass, linen and cream upholstery. Keep the pink mainly in the rug and pick one other color from it, such as its navy or sage, for cushions or a chair. Dusty rose also changes with the light. North light can make it look grayer, almost mauve, while lamplight warms it, so look at the photographs with the room you have in mind. Our post on what color rug goes with your walls covers gray, sage and white rooms, where pink looks best.

Before you choose a pink rug

Decide two things first. Do you need a room size, which points to a Kerman or a Turkish rug, or will a runner or small rug do? And do you want a soft, faded rose or a strong Khorasan pink? Then browse the pink rugs, or compare them with the other colors on our rugs by color page.