Rug No. has found its new home.
Every rug we sell is one of a kind, so that piece is gone. Here are others in the same spirit, or tell Rug Finder what you are looking for.
Sabzevar Rugs
Sabzevar lies west of Mashhad in Khorasan, northeast Persia. The town has long woven in the Mashhad manner, with curvilinear medallions and floral fields, usually at a generous scale.
Sabzevar: Khorasan carpets at generous scale
Sabzevar lies west of Mashhad on the old road across Khorasan, in the northeast of Persia. Its weavers work in the Mashhad manner, with curved floral drawing and a soft, deep palette, and they have long specialized in larger carpets for reception rooms.
Khorasan wool is part of the character. It is soft rather than wiry, and it takes madder and cochineal dyes into a warm range of reds that separates these carpets from the harder colors of the northwest.
Almost everything we carry from Sabzevar is room-size or oversized, which suits a dining room or a large living room. Each carpet was woven between the 1940s and the 1980s, and most sit on a deep red ground.
Signs of a Sabzevar
- Drawing: curvilinear medallions and floral fields in the Mashhad tradition, generously spaced.
- Color: deep red grounds most often, with a few beige and burgundy pieces; indigo and ivory in the detail.
- Construction: wool pile on cotton, soft handle, medium knotting.
- Sizes: this collection is almost entirely room-size and oversized pieces.
Big rooms, long tables
These are living room and dining room carpets. The scale suits a large seating arrangement, and the soft wool makes them comfortable in rooms where people sit on the floor as well as on furniture.
The warmth of the palette is useful in north-facing rooms, where a cooler rug can look cold.
A softer Persian
If you have handled a northwest Persian carpet, a Sabzevar feels different straight away. The wool gives more under the hand, and the colors are less saturated. Neither is better; they suit different rooms and different tastes, and it is worth knowing which one you are buying.
What buyers ask about Sabzevar
Is Sabzevar the same as Mashhad?
They are neighbors in the same province and share a design tradition, but they are separate towns. Mashhad is the larger center; Sabzevar carpets are generally a little less fine and a little more affordable.
Does soft wool mean it wears out faster?
Softer wool shows footfall sooner than the wiry wool of Heriz or Bijar. In a normal living room this is not a problem; in a hallway, a harder-wearing rug is the better choice.
Are these good under furniture?
Yes. The fields are open enough that a sofa sitting on one does not hide the design.
Finding the right Sabzevar
Work from the room measurement, then choose between the deep red grounds and the few beige or burgundy ones. No two of these carpets are alike, and every one dates from the 1940s to the 1980s.