Oriental Rugs
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• Oriental rugs are made by individuals, by
families, and by employed rug factory workers.
• historically oriental rugs were made either in
formal rug making factories in cities and large
towns, or in rural settings, such as nomadic
communities, or very small villages.
• often the long tedious labor was done by women
and children.
History of Oriental Rugs
• Although historians have not been able to
pinpoint exactly when knotted rugs were first
made, it seems probable that they have been
around since human civilization began. Man first
began using animal furs as clothing and flooring,
but as animals became domesticated and
farming increased, the use of sheared wool and
silk became mediums for weaving.
• There are theories about the weaving of
rugs originating with the Egyptians,
Chinese and even Mayans. What is clear,
however, is that as with most things in
nomadic life, the origins were based on
clothing and shelter not ornamentation.
• The nomadic people would have used
wool from their own flocks of sheep to
weave makeshift floor coverings, blankets
and even tent coverings. The style of
these coverings has changed little over
thousands of years, but the designs have
changed dramatically.
• Oriental carpet weaving as an art form,
however, has now been accurately traced
back to the 5th century BC. In 1947,
Russian archaeologists excavating in the
Pazyryk Valley of Siberia, near the outer
Mongolian border in the Altai Mountains in
southern Siberia unearthed a carpet from
a burial chamber belonging to a Scythian
Chieftain.
• It had been frozen in ice and was in
remarkably good condition. Modern
carbon dating has placed it as 2,500 years
old. This carpet which measures about
6'7" x 6' is now in the Hermitage Museum
at St. Petersburg, Russia.
• Unfortunately, wool textiles oxidize and
crumble with the passage of time. There
are carpet fragments dating from the 5th
century that have been found throughout
the Middle East. This seems to indicate
that that the weaving art was highly
perfected by that time.
• In China, carpet making dates back to the
period of the Sung Dynasty (960 to 1279
AD). The Chinese produced rugs in factory
workshops controlled by the emperors.
The designs were characteristic of
Buddhism and Taoism. Marco Polo
discovered some of the earliest examples
of carpets while travelling through China
and Turkey in the 13th century
• The Romans adorned their palaces with
rugs, both on the floor and on the walls.
They were highly valued and were even
used as payment for taxes. They were
clearly perceived as better than money.
• It is well recorded in history that Queen
Cleopatra was presented to Caesar rolled
up in a carpet.
• Oriental rugs made their way to America in
the late seventeenth century. They were
used as floor coverings and wall
coverings. The nineteenth century
Victorian era saw a dramatic increase in
demand for the rugs. The bold colors and
designs complemented the dark and
heavy Victorian furniture. An Oriental
Indian rug owned by Cornelieus Vanderbilt
sold for $950,000.
• Perhaps the only thing that all real Oriental
rugs have in common is that they are
woven by hand.
• Oriental pile rugs are constructed by first
stringing warp threads, which will run the
length of the finished rug, onto a loom.
• Weavers often choose cotton for the
warps, particularly for larger carpets;
because it stretches less than wool, cotton
can be strung on the loom more easily and
evenly.
• Some areas traditionally use wool to produce
their warps, however, which is generally
satisfactory. The number of warps per inch of
width largely determines the fineness of the rug.
The rug is started by passing wefts through the
warps to produce a grid-like fabric called a flat
weave that stabilizes the end of the rug. The
weavers create the pile of the rug by tying pile
knots around adjacent pairs of warp threads
across the width of the rug.
• The two most typical types of knots used
in Oriental carpets are called Turkish
(sometimes called a Ghiordes knot), and
Persian (sometimes called a Senneh
knot). These terms generally have nothing
to do with a carpet's ethnic or geographic
origin.
the number of knots per square inch is a way to
measure the quality of the rug: the more knots, the finer the rug.
Persian Knot
• In the Persian knot, the supplementary
weft yarn passes behind one warp yarn,
and the two ends emerge on either side of
a warp yarn. The Persian knot is
sometimes called a Senneh knot; it has an
asymmetrical structure.
Turkish Knot
• In the Turkish knot, the supplementary
weft yarn passes over the two warp yarns,
and emerges to form the pile coming
between them. The Turkish knot is also
sometimes called a Ghiordes knot; it has a
symmetrical structure.
• Local custom determines which type of
knot weavers use, as there is no great
advantage of one over the other. For
example, many areas in Iran actually use
the symmetric (Turkish) knot. When
trimmed, the ends of the knots become the
pile of the rug. The design of the rug is
produced by using different yarn colors to
tie pile knots.
• After the weavers tie a row of knots across
the width of the rug, they pass 1 to 3 weft
threads of cotton or wool between the
warps, then pound them down to secure
the knots in place. Above these knots, they
tie another row of knots; then more wefts,
more knots, and so on until the rug is
completed.
• Together, the warp and weft threads form a grid
which serves as the foundation of the rug. A
selvage constructed along each side, usually by
wrapping a bundle of warp threads with wool or
cotton yarn. A narrow band composed of only
warp and weft threads is often woven at the
ends of the rug to anchor the knots. The
weavers then take the rug off the loom and finish
it by knotting or weaving the warp ends together
to prevent it from unraveling. The loose ends of
the warps become the fringe
• The other major class of Oriental rugs is
the flat weave.
• Different flat weaving techniques such as
Kilims, durries, sumak and chain stitch
produce rugs with different thicknesses
and surface textures
• Oriental rug designs may be geometric or
curvilinear (floral), depending on the type
of lines used to construct the design, but
all gradations between the two types exist.
Modern floral rugs descend from rugs
woven in the medieval court workshops of
Persia, Turkey, and India.
• Geometric rugs, on the other hand, have
been woven for at least 3000 years by the
villagers and nomads of the Middle East.
• Many tribal and village rug designs were passed
along simply by daughters watching mothers
weave. Intricate floral rugs must be woven from
a "cartoon" or plan, a schematic drawing that
shows where knots of different colors should be
placed. Floral rugs must be fairly finely woven -more than 100 knots/sq. in, and often more than
200 knots/sq. in -- in order to carry off the
intricate design
• Oriental rug designs usually contain two
elements: the border and the field.
• The border typically consists of a wide
main border and 4 to 6 (or more)
subsidiary or guard borders, each
displaying a repeating design motif.
• The field generally contains either a
medallion, with or without related corners
(spandrels), or a repeating (all-over)
design.
• Since the field is the background for the
design, its color determines the overall
color tone of the rug.
• Rug designs are usually symmetrical; only
certain tribal pieces, folk art rugs, and
prayer rugs are intended to be viewed
from one direction. Most modern rugs are
woven from some sort of cartoon, but in a
number of the smaller villages in Turkey,
Iran, and Afghanistan, weavers produce
from memory the same designs their
ancestors used.
Dhurrie Rugs
• Dhurries are flat woven rugs from India
and Afghanistan. They are made of cotton
or wool and come in a huge variety of
combinations of light pastels or bright
colors. Their patterns are unique and
reversible. The best ones have five or six
ply wool yarn twisted together to make the
weft threads. The tighter the weave, the
more durable the rug.
Kilim Rugs
• These are also flat woven rugs. The
threads in a kilim are woven across the
warp, not edge to edge. The threads are
woven so closely together, that the threads
are invisible. They are made primarily in
Turkey and Persia. The material used in
these rugs is wool with a wool foundation.
The patterns are geometric.