1920s Persian Sultanabad Red, Brown and Beige Handwoven Wool Rug

This circa-1920 antique Sultanabad rug features an all-over design of floral abstractions in shades of red, brown and beige against a field of sea green. Multiple borders containing more floral motifs and stylized pomegranate imagery add an ornate, intriguing look to the antique early 20th century carpet. In the late 19th century the city of Sultanabad (now Arak in northwest Iran) was a center of high-quality rug production. With striking all-over patterns and more muted palettes than those of Persian counterparts, antique Persian Sultanabad rugs and carpets inspired an immediate following and created unabated demand for Oriental carpets from the Sultanabad district. In the present day, the style of this group of Persian carpet weavings is still regarded as the most appealing to European and American taste. The Ziegler or Sultanabad nomenclature continues to be used in denoting an outstanding antique Mahal rug or antique carpet from the nineteenth century.