Learn more about Oriental rugs

Oriental Rugs Tutorial

Although many people think of 'Oriental' as Chinese, Japanese, or another far-east culture, Europeans refer to most of Asia as 'The Orient'. Similarly, when we refer to rugs, Oriental means those from anywhere on the continent of Asia.

Any study of Oriental rugs must certainly take into consideration the incredible history and culture of a vast area stretching from the Black and the Mediterranean Seas eastward to the People's Republic of China.

This remarkable area, which many call the cradle of civilization, includes those southern regions which are now part of Russia, plus Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Kirgizstan, Nepal, Tibet, China, Turkey, Mesopotamia, Persia (Iran), Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan. Other nations with established rug weaving histories include Egypt and Morocco.

Many believe, however, that no rug comes close to the utmost superiority of Persian rugs. And today, Iran produces more handmade rugs than all other rug producing countries combined.

In Asia apart from China and Tibet which produce a distinct series of rugs the cultures of all the other regions are linked by ethnographic ties and, most importantly, by a common religion: Islam.

The development of the art of handmade rugs in these countries may be seen basically as an interaction between religious and ethnic structures dating back long before the advent of Islam. Economic, social, and significant political movements caused by the development of religious beliefs helped shape this art into what it is today.

It is safe to define the cultures of the major Islamic countries and regions mainly in terms of a few major ethnic groups: the Mongolians, the Persians, the Turks, and the Arabs; and their spread through the empires of Asia.

The most famous designs found in rugs today include the numerous Persian designs, the Turkoman allover designs, the geometric and plain tribal designs, the modern Tibetan designs, and the Indo-Persian designs which are Persian designs imitated in India.

Throughout the continent, Persian designs are often imitated. However, the quality is different and any rug expert can easily distinguish a genuine Persian rug. Of course, in Iran, designs of other countries are almost never woven unless by special request for a custom-made rug.

In countries like Afghanistan and Nepal, rugs are woven mainly by nomadic tribes. Countries like China, Pakistan, and India have modern rug weaving industries combined with tribal pockets. In Iran the rug industry is modernized though a large percentage of the rugs are still produced by nomads.

Today, almost all of the handmade rugs of the world are made in Asia. Other countries either don't have the skill to weave such carpets or higher wages for workers make it almost impossible to compete with the prices of Oriental rugs.

It's important to note that any handmade rug is completely superior in quality to a machine made rug because each knot has been individually tightened by the hand of a master weaver.

Besides Iran, other countries such as Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan also produce handmade rugs for export. Both Pakistan and India have developed fairly modern rug and textile industries while Afghanistan still remains a nation whose rug export industry is rather limited.

Each of these countries creates a distinct quality and style of rug, and pieces made in any of the countries, although well made, can always be distinguished from finer Persian rugs.

India, located in South Central Asia, is bordered by China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Burma, Pakistan, and the Indian Ocean. Geographically, the country covers about three million square km and has a population of about 980 million people making it the second most populated country in the world after China.

India gained its independence from Britain in 1947 and has its federal capital in New Delhi.

Rug weaving isn't as ancient a tradition to India as it is to Iran. In the sixteenth century the art of rug weaving was introduced to India mainly by the Persian Empire under Mongolian rule, and then under the Persian Safavian rule.

The Moghul dynasty of India was, as its name implies, ruled by emperors proud of their Mongol descent. Babur, the first Moghul Shah (king) (1526-30) was a fifth generation descendant of Tamerlaine and was thus related to Chengiz Khan. Formerly ruler of Afghanistan, he overthrew the Hindu Delhi Sultanate and conquered India.

During this period, the Indian rug weaving industry began to grow. By the end of Mongol rule in Persia in the end of the fifteenth century, India had developed quite a talent for weaving rugs. After the Safavid Dynasty came into full power in Iran in 1501, the Persian government set up professional workshops in India to weave rugs and often had expert Persian weavers supervise the weavers at work in front of the looms.

As a result, almost all Indian rug designs of today are imitations of famous Persian designs, such as Kashan and Kerman. The only thing that sets them apart is the difference in quality of the wool and the weave.

In the 15th to 17th centuries, most rugs made in India were almost as fine as Persian weavings, but this art almost came to an end in India in the late 17th century. The industry was reestablished by the British in the 1800s but later carpets weren't nearly as fine.

The wool used in Indian rugs is coarser than that used in Persian rugs. It is also more difficult to fold an Indian rug because of its stiffness.

However, they sit very nicely on the floor and they tend to last a very long time.

Most of what was said about India's rug industry can also be said about Pakistan's.

Pakistan is located west of India, covers a geographic area of about 800,000 square km, and has a population of approximately 140 million people.

Like India, Pakistan was also subject to British rule for many years and it, too, gained its independence at the same time as India. Pakistan is mainly an Islamic country and has its capital in Islamabad.

As is the case with India, Pakistan's rug industry has been greatly influenced by the Persian Empire. The Iranian government set up royal rug manufacturing facilities in Pakistan and by the 16th and 17th centuries, rug weaving had developed considerably in the region.

Today the styles and patterns of Pakistan's rugs follow either famous Persian designs or Turkoman and Caucasian (Bokhara) designs.

Bokhara rugs are high in quality and have incredibly soft and lustrous wool. In the finer Bokharas, virgin lamb wool is used to give the carpets an extraordinarily soft feel. In these designs, only about two to four colors are used, and they are usually different shades of green, blue, or red. The styles resembling Persian designs are also high in quality and often higher in price.

Today, Pakistan is the fourth largest carpet producer in the world.

Afghanistan is a small country located north west of Pakistan and China, northeast of Iran, and south of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Over 25 million people live in this land that covers an area of a little over 650,000 square km.

Afghanistan's carpet industry isn't as great as it was before the country began facing political problems. Today, even though there are many rugs produced in the country, export is extremely difficult, so Afghanistan markets their carpets to the rest of the world through Pakistan and Iran.

Afghan rugs usually resemble Caucasian style rugs and are similar to those made in Turkey, and East Turkmenistan and the Caucasus. The color scheme used in Afghan rugs consists of a few exciting colors that are exclusive to their style of rug. Afghan nomads such as the Chechen tribes still produce rugs but in very little quantities making them rare and hard to find.

One would hope that in this political chaos, the precious art of Afghanistan's tribal rugs is not lost forever.

Caucasian rugs come from the region northwest of Iran and south of Russia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, an area of approximately 160,000 square miles. This is also the area believed to be responsible for the production of some of the world's first pile rugs.

Caucasian rugs mirror the complex ethnography of their creators. Until the Russian conquests of the late 18th and 19th centuries, the area had been an ethnic, cultural, and religious melting pot and a ceaseless battleground for over 800 hundred years. Surrounding civilizations were constantly seeking to make the Caucasus their own, either for political or religious reasons.

Caucasian rugs all bear a striking similarity to one another and resemble the Turkoman rugs and those made by the nomads living in southeast Turkey.

The main characteristics that distinguish Caucasian rugs from Persian rugs are their color schemes of bright shades of red, rust, or burgundy, and their border and medallion motifs. Caucasian rugs tend to have a lot of octagonal motifs with bold geometric elements and narrow borders.

Today, all the countries in this area combined do not produce even half as many rugs as Iran does. But because of their scarcity, carpets from these countries are considered to be quite valuable.

Some of the most distinct rugs in the world are those made in the Tarim Basin located in the far eastern regions of Asia. Countries in this area include China, Mongolia, Tibet, East Turkmenistan, Nepal, and many countries once part of the Soviet Union, including Kirgizstan and Uzbekistan.

The Tarim Basin is a very old area, often times referred to as Eurasia the precise half-way point between the Far East, and western Europe. Some of the oldest rug fragments ever discovered have been unearthed in the Tarim Basin.

Many believe that the first people to ever weave pile rugs were in fact those nomads living in the area of present day Mongolia.

The area described as East Turkmenistan stretches from the city of Samarkand (Uzbekistan) in the west to beyond the city of Khotan (Sinkiang province - West China) about one thousand miles to the east.

This westernmost area of China wasn't a permanent part of the Chinese Empire until the 18th century. It was, however, in the direct line of the great silk route west, and was one of the first significant areas outside China to rear silkworms.

Until its conquest by China, the area had been subjected to centuries of various political and cultural influences. In the early centuries of Christianity, this area practiced the Graeco-Roman style of art. Evidence of this can be seen through the numerous fresco fragments and artifacts that have been discovered in the area.

The forces of power that were of great influence to this area were Persia and Turkey in the west, India in the south, and China and Mongolia in the north and east. The major religions were Manicheeism, Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity, Buddhism, and Shamanism.

This land is the pivot point of the Eurasian landmass, with the major city of Khotan being precisely halfway between Tokyo and London.

Studies based on archeological artifacts prove that by the 4th century BC the main language spoken in this area was Tokharian which belonged to the Indo-Aryan language group.

Evidence proves that this language was spoken as far as a thousand miles east of Khotan, in Central China; this was the place that Sir Aurel Stein discovered frescoes that could just as well been painted in Italy or Alexandria.

Until the discovery of the Pazyryk Rug, it was here in the Tarim Basin that the oldest rug fragments were found.

After being ruled by the Hephtalites, Turks, Chinese and Tibetans, this region fell under Mongolian rule in the 12th century. This was the time that the Mongolian power of Chengiz Khan was at its peak, having also conquered civilizations as powerful as Persia.

In the 17th century the Tarim Basin was conquered by the Chinese, aided in their second conquest by the British who wanted to preserve the borders of India and prevent Russian expansion.

The fact that the Pazyryk rug, the earliest surviving example of pile carpet weaving, was found in this area of Central Asia close to Mongolia, strongly suggests that the art itself may have originated there by various tribes and dynasties of Mongol descent.

Many scholars believe that the rug was Mongolian, but others believe it could have been woven in Persia, because of its Assyrian and Persian motifs. What we know for sure is that the weaving of pile rugs started somewhere between Persia and Mongolia.

Evidence suggests that the Chinese did not start weaving pile carpets until the time of the Sung Dynasty (960-1279). And it's also believed that even those rugs being made in China were used by the Mongolians because the Chinese looked down on wool as a barbarian material. Instead, the Chinese have preferred silk, a material they have specialized in for over 4000 years.

China never had much of a nomadic rug weaving population. And when the Chinese did start weaving rugs, they used unique designs usually containing Imperial five-clawed dragons.

Today, China is the leader in the Far East for producing rugs. However, all of China's rugs are made in urban centers by weavers who made them strictly for retail or export.

From about 600 to 800 AD the entire area of northern India, Nepal, Western China, and of course the Tarim Basin was under Tibetan control. During this time the people of Tibet moved down into the fertile Yarlung Valley, which is on the present border of Nepal, Pakistan, and Bhutan, and formed a strong civilization.

Their great power is said to have stemmed from the fact that they were on diplomatic terms with the great Sassanian Dynasty of Persia. By the time the Arabs expanded eastward to spread Islam, the Tibetans had adopted Buddhism.

Their empire collapsed around 850 A.D. and the Tibetans were scattered throughout the area until the Mongol invasion in the 13th century. And until the Chinese Communist invasion in 1959, Tibet was ruled by religious Buddhist leaders and Dalai Lamas.

Tibetans are believed to have been weaving pile carpets a little over 900 years, definitely not as long as the Mongolians, Turks, or Persians.

Mongolia, Tibet, and East Turkmenistan don't produce many carpets any more and the few rugs they make are mainly for export by nomadic weavers.