A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but, since the 20th century, synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon or polyester are often used, as these fibers are less expensive than wool. The pile usually consists of twisted tufts which are typically heat-treated to maintain their structure. The term "carpet" is often used interchangeably with the term "rug", although the term "carpet" can be applied to a floor covering that covers an entire house, whereas a "rug" is generally no bigger than a single room, and traditionally does not even span from one wall to another, and is typically not even attached as part of the floor.
A Persian carpet or Persian rug, also known as Iranian carpet, is a heavy textile made for a wide variety of utilitarian and symbolic purposes and produced in Iran, for home use, local sale, and export. Carpet weaving is an essential part of Persian culture and Iranian art. Within the group of Oriental rugs produced by the countries of the so-called "rug belt", the Persian carpet stands out by the variety and elaborateness of its manifold designs.
A kilim is a flat tapestry-woven carpet or rug traditionally produced in countries of the former Persian Empire, Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkic countries of Central Asia. Kilims can be purely decorative or can function as prayer rugs. Modern kilims are popular floor-coverings in Western households.
Knot density is a traditional measure for quality of handmade or knotted pile carpets. It refers to the number of knots, or knot count, per unit of surface area - typically either per square inch (kpsi) or per square centimeter (kpsc), but also per decimeter or meter. Number of knots per unit area is directly proportional to the quality of carpet. Density may vary from 25 to over 1000 kpsi, or 4 to over 155 kpsc, where ≤80 kpsi is poor quality, 120 to 330 kpsi medium to good, and ≥330 kpsi is very good quality. The inverse, knot ratio, is also used to compare characteristics. Knot density = warp×weft while knot ratio = warp/weft. For comparison: 100,000/square meter = 1,000/square decimeter = 65/square inch = 179/gereh.
Uşak carpets, Ushak carpets or Oushak Carpets are Turkish carpets that use a particular family of designs, called by convention after the city of Uşak, Turkey – one of the larger towns in Western Anatolia, which was a major center of rug production from the early days of the Ottoman Empire, into the early 20th century.
An oriental rug is a heavy textile made for a wide variety of utilitarian and symbolic purposes and produced in “Oriental countries” for home use, local sale, and export.
Jozan rugs are made in the surroundings of the village Jozan in the Iranian Malayer area. Jozan rugs are quality rugs of the Sarouk type often with designs as early 20th century Sarouks. Jozan rugs are often called Jozan Sarouk or Malayer Sarouk in trade. In recent production the finer qualities are labelled Jozan and the less finer knotted are labelled Malayer.
Anatolian rug is a term of convenience, commonly used today to denote rugs and carpets woven in Anatolia and its adjacent regions. Geographically, its area of production can be compared to the territories which were historically dominated by the Ottoman Empire. It denotes a knotted, pile-woven floor or wall covering which is produced for home use, local sale, and export. Together with the flat-woven kilim, Anatolian rugs represent an essential part of the regional culture, which is officially understood as the Culture of Turkey today, and derives from the ethnic, religious and cultural pluralism of one of the most ancient centres of human civilisation.
A knotted-pile carpet is a carpet containing raised surfaces, or piles, from the cut off ends of knots woven between the warp and woof. The Ghiordes/Turkish knot and the Senneh/Persian knot, typical of Turkish carpets and Persian carpets, are the two primary knots. A flat or tapestry woven carpet, without pile, is a kilim. A pile carpet is influenced by width and number of warp and weft, pile height, knots used, and knot density.
A Pakistani rug is a type of handmade floor-covering textile traditionally made in Pakistan.
Bakshaish rugs and carpets are a type of tapestry found in north-west Iran. Bakshaish, Heris County, is a town on the banks of the Aji Chay in the Heris region. Situated in the mountainous region 60 miles east of the large city of Tabriz, Bakshaish is the oldest rug weaving village in the district, noted for carpets with diverse abstract adaptations of age-old tribal and classical Persian motifs.
Armenians wove Lilihans in Lilihan village in what used to be called Kamareh district in Iran. 1 The term Lilihan is better known in the US, in Europe it is not as widely used.2
Sultanabad rugs and carpets are floor coverings of distinctive design made in Arak, Iran since the 19th century.
A Sarouk rug is a type of Persian rug from Markazi Province in Iran. Sarouk rugs are those woven in the village of Saruk and also the city of Arak and the surrounding countryside.
A gul is a medallion-like design element typical of traditional hand-woven carpets from Central and West Asia. In Turkmen weavings they are often repeated to form the pattern in the main field.
The Dilmaghani family, the oldest existing manufacturers of hand knotted carpets and oriental rugs, can be traced back to the 1850s Qajar Dynasty, Persia. In an industry which largely produces untitled items often identifiable only by experts, the history and lineage of any name relating to specific types of rugs for so many decades is unusual. Through the 1960s, the Dilmaghani family was still designing, manufacturing and importing Persian carpets from Iran to the United States. Dilmaghani is seen as an important connection of 19th and 20th century Persian rug and carpet production in and around the cities of Tabriz and Kermān. Dilmaghani remains among the best known names of branded 19th, 20th and 21st century hand knotted carpets.
The Bakhtiari rug, along with other weavings, is a major artform of the Bakhtiari tribe, located in Chahar Mahaal and Bakhtiari, Iran. They have been weaving rugs exported around the globe since the early 19th century.
Borujerd rugs is a type of Persian rug woven in Borujerd, Western Iran. Borujerd rugs are different from Luri rugs as well as rugs of Arak and Central Iran. However, they have more features similar with rugs of Hamadan province.
Ziegler & Co. was a Manchester-based Anglo-Swiss producer and distributor of Persian carpets in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The company had workshops in Tabriz and Sultanabad, and it supplied retailers such as Liberty & Company and Harvey Nichols.
