Sultanabad Rugs, Antique Persian Sultanabad Carpets

The city of Sultanabad, whose name has been changed to Arak, was founded in 1808. It is located in north central Iran, south of Tehran, and has become a key industrial center in Iran. Towards the end of the 19th century, Sultanabad became a leading rug exporter when the Ziegler company, based in Manchester, England, set up rug production in the city and made rugs that appealed to a Western audience by modifying traditional designs and increasing the rug size.

Allover designs are common with lattice patterns that repeat the medallion, floral design patterns on soft pastel red or yellow fields, or, on occasion, bold and stronger red.

Beautiful Rugs has a Sultanabad transitional design rug made in Pakistan with a wool pile on cotton foundation available with a light-yellow ochre field and a very large, slightly darker, light brown, split leaf, or Garrus design in its center with Shah Abbasi stylized lotus flower heads with two similar in design pendants. The split leaf Garrus design continues in the main rug border with a color reversal: the arabesque pattern is light yellow, while its field is a darker brown, and the entire rug is framed in a solid medium brown border. This rug is also an example of the Ziegler style that has reduced the colors used in the rug, as well as simplified its design in order to attain a much more subdued and soft impression on the viewer that was done for export to appeal to Western tastes for Persian rugs.

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