When I speak of oriental rugs, I am primarily referring to Persian rugs because that is my preference. Oriental Rugs are actually made in Turkey, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, India, and China. There are machine-made rugs that are made in Europe and the US that have the appearance of oriental rugs.
Realizing I’m no expert, I can only give you my feelings and preferences. Personally, I prefer Persian rugs and those that are more tribal in appearance. Heriz, Hamadan, and Kerajy are the rugs that I prefer. A number of rugs are made in India; they are copies of Persian rugs. In other words, you can buy a Heriz rug made in India that appears and looks like a Heriz, but it does not hold its value the way a Persian Heriz holds its value. Persian rugs as well as rugs made in Turkey and regions of the Caucus Mountains, denote styles or appearances that identify the regions in which the rugs are woven.
For example, Heriz, Hamadan, Bakhtiari, Kerajy, Zanjan, and some other Persian rugs are made primarily in the northwestern part of Iran near the Caspian Sea. You see other regions in northeast Iran where Mashhad rugs are made, and due south of Tehran, Qom rugs are made. Qom rugs are very finely woven rugs with silk content. What is interesting about regions where rugs are woven is that many times, the rug pattern identifies specific rugs.
Many years ago, we were in Guatemala in Central America, and people of particular regions of the country were identified by the patterns on their shirts. When we entered different towns, the Indian population of those towns had shirts woven denoting their tribes.
Turkish rugs, while referred to as oriental rugs, have a different appearance than Persian rugs for the most part, and they have a weaving (knotting) pattern that is perpendicular as opposed to knots tied on an angle with Persian rugs. Heriz rugs have a double knot, and the knot pattern is thicker than other rugs. There are some rugs that are knotted very finely; Bigar, Mahal, Farahan, and Qom are usually very fine rugs. They have a much tighter weaving pattern.
When I look at rugs, I look at the front of the rugs, but I also look at the back, which helps me to identify the kind of rugs they are. If you look at the back of Hamadan, Kerajy, Malayer, and Bakhtiari, they have a different weaving pattern or knot pattern that is different than the finer Rugs. The pattern is not as finely knotted.
I am amused when I see an individual and a decorator with a piece of cloth that is six or twelve inches square, placing it next to an oriental or Persian rug. If you like the beauty of the rug, it brings out multiple colors in a room. If you see a beautiful painting and you want to purchase it, do you think about whether is will match the sofa? Probably not. Beautiful rugs bring out many colors in a room.
There has been an adecorator trend for the last few years of everything having to be white, beige, grey, or tan, and people have bought rugs with essentially no color or very little color, for example, Oushak rugs. That will go out in a few more years. Also, people have taken beautiful rugs, such as a Heriz rug, shaved all the knap off the rugs, and dyed them blue.
They have ruined the rugs; furthermore, those mistakes will not stand the test of time. For the wanting of a short-term designer trend, people ruin beautiful rugs that would have otherwise lasted for easily fifty or maybe a hundred years.
I could probably add some more, but you are probably tired of reading, and maybe I am tired of writing. But possibly I can write again. Enjoy the beauty of the rugs.
Written by Richard Queen
