Rug 72161

Begin at the short edge where cotton fringe falls in a thin line; the hand meets a rectangle of wool cut low, smooth and even. The eye steps into a tall field ruled by a central medallion: a crisp diamond in red, its points stretching toward the ends, rimmed with navy blue sawtooth edging that bites cleanly into the ground. Inside the diamond, smaller stepped shapes repeat—little nested lozenges and crosses—drawn in ivory, navy blue, and touches of light blue, the lines bold and unbroken.
Around the medallion the ground turns to ivory and opens into large V-shaped panels that lean inward like woven feathers. Each panel is filled with tight diagonal striations—fine, parallel marks in tan and brown that read like herringbone—so the ivory does not sit empty; it breathes with orderly texture. At the four angles of the medallion, compact geometric flower heads and small hooked leaves in red and navy blue lock the shapes together, keeping the symmetry bilateral from side to side and end to end.
The frame rises in multiple borders. First a narrow red track settles the edge of the field. Beyond it a wider ivory band carries a neat procession of tiny square tiles; inside each, a small mark or blossom in navy blue, red, brown, or light blue—a steady, even rhythm that runs the full length with crisp turns at the corners. Outside that, a darker navy blue band holds repeating diamonds, then another red guard stripe closes the composition. The proportions feel balanced: borders strong enough to contain the picture, never overwhelming it.
Colors separate cleanly—abrupt changes from red to ivory, from ivory to navy blue—so every figure reads clearly. The surface stays even under the palm, the edges clean, and the design holds its structure with sharp alignment. From a distance the rug reads as a tall red diamond floating on ivory, framed by an orderly wall of borders; up close the viewer discovers the fine diagonal filling in tan and brown, the tiny tiled flowers, and the small flashes of light blue that cool the warmth of red. It is a traditional Sarab—geometric at heart, tribal in spirit—woven to feel exact and alive at the same time.