From: Eileen Hi. I have thought about bidding on a sarouk mir rug listed on ebay (7 feet 3 inches by 9 feet), rust background, with auction ending in under 1 hour. But I am a bit concerned that I don't know enough about the rug. What does mir refer to when combined with sarouk? Are these relatively flat rugs or with thick piles? They seem relatively simple compared to more intricate and detailed rugs and I am afraid that they could be machine made and I wouldn't know. This is not to caste any suspicion on the dealer ; it is instead a comment on my own ignorance. Please let me know what you think and, if you get this message in time, would you please take a look at the ebay rug. Sorry that I just discovered your web site. I will be spending many hours reading it from now on. Thank you.
Hello Eileen, Sorry I was not around to comment before the auction closed but it is still a good question. I maintain this site as a hobby and unfortunately I was at work when your question came in. The rug in the auction was either from or made for the German market. In Germany that rug is called a Mir Sarouk and in the US it is called a Mir Serabend. The size is a size most popular in Germany. A Serabend is coarser rug from the Hamadan area but a Mir Serabend/Sarouk is a Persian knotted rug from Arak. Compared to a Isfahan or Nain a Mir Sarouk is coarse and compared to a Heriz they are finer. The real question is how well the number of knots portrays the deisgn. In the case of the eBay rug it looked like a nice rug and fine enough. They also tend to be thicker and knotcounts in 90 - 150 knots per square inch range are to be expected expected. Best wishes, Barry For Further Reading: Thanks and best wishes, J. Barry O'Connell Jr. |
Persian Rugs the O'Connell Guides |
