Welcome to our Rug Guides and Articles library, where Robert and Holly Mosby share over 55 years of hands-on experience identifying, buying, selling, and researching antique and vintage Oriental rugs. Here you’ll find clear, organized guidance on rug construction, weaving techniques, knot types, wool and dyes, the regions and time periods behind each rug, and the cultures of the weavers who made them. We built this resource to help collectors understand exactly what they’re looking at — whether you’re weighing a purchase, verifying a piece you already own, or simply deepening your appreciation of these rugs.
Modern interiors are often defined by clean lines, restrained furnishings, open spaces and a quiet palette. While this approach creates a sense of calm and sophistication, it can sometimes leave a room feeling a little too predictable. One of the most beautiful ways to introduce warmth, personality and visual excitement is with an authentic antique Caucasian rug.
The Beauty of Mid-19th-Century Caucasian Rugs
The Caucasus was home to numerous weaving traditions, each with its own vocabulary of geometric designs, colors and tribal motifs. Rugs from areas such as Shirvan, Karabagh, Kuba and other weaving districts were made by hand, often in relatively small village or tribal settings.
These 19th-century carpets possess qualities that are difficult to reproduce in contemporary rugs. Their wool was carefully selected, hand-spun and colored with natural dyes that have developed a remarkable depth and subtlety over generations. Reds, deep indigos, ivory, greens, golds and muted rose tones can have a richness that immediately distinguishes an authentic antique from a modern reproduction.
The combination of artistry, craftsmanship and durability makes these rugs particularly well suited to modern households.
Modern Spaces Become More Interesting with Antique Rugs
The kitchen shown here demonstrates how effectively an antique rug can transform a contemporary space.
The room is deliberately clean and airy, with white cabinetry, simple architectural lines, pale flooring and a large central island. The furnishings do not attempt to compete with the rugs. Instead, the neutral setting allows their colors and patterns to become the focal point.
On one side of the island is a Shousha Karabagh antique Caucasian runner, measuring approximately 4’0″ x 9’4″ and dating to circa 1860. Its deep indigo field and vibrant red, ivory and green ornament create a dramatic counterpoint to the white cabinetry and restrained architecture.
On the opposite side of the island is a Shirvan runner, approximately 3’7″ x 9’4″, dating to circa 1850 or earlier. Its extraordinary vertical arrangement of narrow colorful stripes and small geometric motifs brings an entirely different kind of energy to the room.
Placed together, the two rugs demonstrate an important principle of interior design: antique rugs do not have to match. In fact, they are often more interesting when they don’t.
Their common language is their age, hand craftsmanship, natural materials and extraordinary color. Their differences provide the personality.
A Treasure Trove of Antique Rugs
For more than 55 years, Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs has built a collection around exceptional antique carpets and rugs from some of the world’s great weaving traditions. Rugs have been added to the collection because of their design, quality, age, condition and individuality. Many are true masterworks, preserved in good to excellent condition despite having been woven generations ago.
The collection at Antique Oriental Rugs is a treasure trove for anyone looking for authentic antique rugs with character, history and enduring quality. The selection extends well beyond the tribal and village weaving areas of the Caucasus to include exceptional rugs from Iran, Turkey and China.
The Appeal of Antique Authenticity
There is also something fundamentally satisfying about living with a genuine antique.
An antique rug tends to become more interesting as one lives with it. It is not simply a decorative accessory purchased to complete a room. It is a work of art with its own history and material presence.
The result is a compelling balance: modern architecture with antique craftsmanship; clean lines with intricate pattern; simplicity with color; and contemporary living with a connection to the past!
Robert and Holly Mosby have spent more than 55 years handling, categorizing, buying, selling, and researching antique rugs. Through their gallery, Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs in Sarasota, Florida, they have built a reputation for helping serious collectors and informed buyers understand the handmade pieces that pass through their hands. Antique rug identification is not an act of memorizing a single detail. It is a method of reading a rug as a whole: how it was woven, what it was made from, how it was dyed, and where its weavers lived. That method, refined over decades of daily contact with antique rugs, is the foundation of the educational work the Mosbys continue to build.
Start with the Weave: Hand-Knotted Versus Machine-Made
The first question in antique rug identification is whether a rug is hand-knotted or machine-made. A genuine Oriental or Persian carpet is woven by hand on a traditional loom over a period of months. A machine can produce a rug with a similar design in hours. The distinction matters because it changes everything about value, character, and longevity.
Antique Oriental rugs were woven on a traditional loom with strands of cotton, silk, or wool stretched vertically between two wooden horizontal beams. The weaver worked row by row, tying each knot by hand before the next row was packed down. This slow, deliberate process gives a hand-knotted rug its character.
One fast way to separate hand woven from machine woven is to look at the fringe. A genuine Oriental or Persian carpet has no sewn-on fringes. The fringe forms the end of the warp yarns and is therefore an integral part of the rug. When fringe has clearly been attached with stitching, the rug may be machine-made or heavily altered, and it deserves a closer look.
Examine the Back of the Rug
The front of a rug is designed to impress. The back is where identification really begins. Examining the back of the rug provides more reliable clues about its age. Over time, the back of an older rug becomes more polished as it rubs against floors, is cleaned, and is handled. That natural polish is difficult to reproduce artificially.
The back also shows the structure without the pile in the way. You can see how the knots sit, how the warps run, and how the pattern translates through the weave. For an experienced dealer such as Robert Mosby, those structural details often confirm what the front only suggests.
Wool, Silk, and Cotton: Materials as Evidence
Antique Oriental rugs were woven on a traditional loom with strands of cotton, silk, or wool. The vertical strands, called warps, were stretched between two wooden horizontal beams. The choice of fiber connects a rug to the resources available in its home region.
Wool is the most common pile material because it is durable, resilient, and takes dye well. Silk appears in some of the most refined workshop pieces, and cotton often forms the warp and weft of rugs from particular regions and periods. When the Mosby’s examine a rug, the feel and behavior of the fiber are among the first clues they use.
Natural Dyes and Synthetic Dyes
The color of a rug is one of its most beautiful features and one of its most informative. Rug specialists emphasize the identification of natural dyes. Natural dyes produce colors that age with a particular softness and irregularity, and those qualities are prized by collectors.
The color of a rug is one of its most beautiful features and one of its most informative.
Synthetic dyes tell a different story. They can look sharp and uniform, and they age differently against light and wear. Recognizing the difference between natural and synthetic color is a core skill in antique rug identification because it helps place a rug in the correct period of production.
The Mosby’s rug guide gives collectors a practical way to approach dye analysis without a laboratory, explaining what to look for in color depth, variation, and tonal shifts across the surface of the rug.
Knot Types and Knot Density
Every hand-knotted rug is built from thousands of individual knots. The type of knot and the density of those knots vary by weaving tradition. Collectors express that density as KPSI, or knots per square inch, and it is one of the first numbers a dealer will quote.
Older rugs tend to have a higher number of knots per square inch, reflecting the patience and skill of weavers who worked slowly and carefully. Flipping back a corner of the rug and counting knots gives a buyer a concrete measure of quality. Together with the knot structure, it helps distinguish a finely woven antique from a coarser modern piece. If you compare two rugs side by side, the one with the finer, more consistent knotting is usually the one that demanded more from its weaver.
Region of Origin and Weaver Culture
If you ask seasoned rug people what to look at first, they will tell you origin. Not because national borders define beauty, but because each weaving tradition leaves a fingerprint in structure, materials, and drawing. The rug’s origin is the thread that ties every other clue together.
Antique rugs of the world are best approached by their countries of origin: Persia, Turkey, China, India, Morocco, Scandinavia, and more. Within these countries, distinct design traditions developed over centuries. A Persian Tabriz design, for example, is known as a Mahi Tabriz, and that same pattern is also copied by Chinese, Indian, and Pakistani weavers. The pattern alone cannot identify the rug. Its structure, wool, and dyes reveal where it was truly made.
The ethnicity and culture of the weavers also show in the piece. Village weavers, nomadic tribes, and urban workshops each produced rugs with their own conventions, passed down for generations. Reading those cultural markers is part of what makes rug identification so rewarding.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I tell how old my rug is?
Age shows up in several places at once. Examine the back of the rug for the polished appearance that develops over time, compare knot density with known examples, and inspect the fringe to confirm it was woven as part of the rug. Natural dyes that have softened with age are another useful signal.
What does KPSI mean in rug identification?
KPSI stands for knots per square inch, and it measures the density of the hand-knotting in a rug. Older rugs tend to have a higher number of knots per square inch, which reflects the patience and skill invested by the weaver. Counting knots on the back of a rug is a standard first step in evaluating quality and age.
Why do experts consider a rug’s origin first?
Origin matters because each weaving tradition leaves a fingerprint in structure, materials, and drawing. A rug from Persia, Turkey, China, India, or Morocco shows different construction details even when patterns look similar. Tabriz designs, for example, are copied by several countries, but the weave still reveals where a rug was actually made.
Antique Peking Chinese rugs hold a special place among hand-knotted carpets. Made in the old capital of China at the turn of the century, these antique Chinese carpets are prized for their restrained palettes, clean drawing, and balanced motifs that read beautifully in both traditional and contemporary rooms. For serious collectors and interior decorators, a genuine antique Peking rug represents a rare combination of artistic discipline, cultural depth, and technical mastery that few other weaving traditions can match.
What Defines an Antique Peking Chinese Rug
Peking rugs are antique Chinese hand-knotted carpets, with most examples dating from roughly 1900 to the 1930s. The name points to their origin: Peking, the old capital of China, was the center of the production that created these carpets at the turn of the century. The category is defined by a few consistent features that collectors rely on for identification.
Hand-knotted construction on vertical looms
A pile made primarily of sheep’s wool, with some examples woven entirely of silk or carrying a silk pile
Restrained palettes that favor muted blues, beiges, and neutrals
Clean drawing and balanced motifs that give each rug a composed, deliberate look
Dates generally falling between 1900 and the 1930s
What sets these rugs apart is their visual discipline. Nothing feels crowded or accidental. The best examples have the quiet confidence of a well-composed painting, which is why they have remained so desirable among serious rug collectors for more than a century.
The Colors of Antique Peking Rugs
Color is often the first thing that draws an interior decorator to a Peking rug. The palette leans restrained. Soft blues, warm beiges, quiet taupe, and dusty golds appear again and again, along with deeper blacks and muted neutrals that anchor a room without overwhelming it.
In many antique Peking rugs, blue is the dominant voice. Beige and blue combinations are especially characteristic, and collectors also seek out black and blue rounds and other variations that show the weaver’s confidence with negative space. Because the wools and dyes age gracefully, these colors soften further over decades, producing a patina that is difficult to replicate in new carpets.
For decorators, that restraint is the selling point. A Peking rug can sit comfortably beneath a formal dining table, in a library, or in a minimalist living room without competing with the furniture. The muted, sophisticated palette is one of the main reasons these rugs have moved from the antique market into high-end interior design.
Botanical and Asian Iconography
The iconography of antique Chinese rugs is one of their most compelling features. These carpets are prized for their intricate designs and cultural symbolism, and the motifs reward close study. Floral patterns are among the most common, with blossoms and vines arranged in balanced, rhythmic compositions that feel both decorative and meditative.
Beyond the florals, Peking rugs often draw on a broader Chinese visual vocabulary. Chinoiserie-inspired designs appear frequently, and the motifs are rendered with the clean, confident drawing style that distinguishes Peking weaving from other regional traditions. The symbolism embedded in these patterns is part of their lasting appeal. A rug that reads as simple from across the room reveals layer after layer of meaning up close, which is exactly the kind of depth serious collectors look for.
Because the designs are balanced rather than busy, they adapt well to modern interiors. A Peking rug with botanical imagery can warm up a neutral room, while a more graphic example can serve as the focal point of a study or entry hall.
The Famously Fine Weave and Pile
Ask anyone who has handled a fine antique Peking Chinese rug, and they will describe the same thing: the weave. These rugs were hand-knotted on vertical looms, a method that allows for dense, precise construction. The best antique Peking rugs feel almost silky under the hand.
The materials explain part of the story. Most Peking rugs were made of sheep’s wool, but the wool was selected and prepared with exceptional care. In some pieces, the pile is entirely silk, and in others, silk appears in the pile to create subtle highlights and a supple surface. Dealers who specialize in these carpets often describe the finest examples as extremely luxurious, with fibers that feel more like silk than ordinary wool.
That fine weave is not just about sensation. It also allows for the clean drawing and crisp motifs that define the category. Because the weave is so fine, the weaver can render small details with precision. Many Peking rugs look almost printed from a distance, and only up close do they reveal the handwork behind every knot.
Why Collectors and Decorators Seek Peking Rugs
Two distinct audiences drive demand for antique Peking rugs. Serious collectors value the cultural symbolism, the craftsmanship, and the historical connection to Peking at the turn of the century. Interior decorators value the same qualities for different reasons: the restrained palette, the balanced motifs, and the way these rugs make a room feel finished without shouting.
The market has responded in kind. Antique Chinese art deco and Peking rugs are now a recognized category, available in a variety of sizes and designs, from small scatter rugs to room-sized carpets. That range makes them practical for real decorating projects rather than museum pieces alone.
Versatility matters as much as beauty. A small antique Peking rug can sit beside a bed or under a console. A larger piece can define a living area or anchor a dining room. And because the palette is so restrained, the same rug can move from one home to another and still look right. That combination of durability, flexibility, and quiet elegance keeps demand steady among both collectors and the designers who source rugs for their clients.
Buying and Selling Antique Peking Chinese Rugs with Robert Mosby
For buyers who want an authoritative source, Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs in Sarasota, Florida, has become the premier American destination for antique Peking rugs. The dealership is family-run with more than 55 years of experience, and Robert Mosby helped build the modern market for these carpets in the 21st century. His eye and his history in the trade are the foundation of the gallery’s reputation.
That hands-on expertise matters in a category where condition, weave, and color determine value. With more than five decades of family experience and travels that inform the gallery’s eye, Mosby can place a Peking rug in its proper context and judge its quality with confidence. Collectors trust that judgment, which is why so many important Peking rugs have passed through the gallery.
The storefront at antiqueorientalrugs.com makes this expertise accessible far beyond Florida. Jozan Rugs Category Peking The site serves as both a sales floor and an educational resource, with articles on rug history, identification, and regional weaving traditions. Collectors can browse the Peking collection, request an appraisal, or ask for purchasing guidance, all backed by a family that has handled these rugs for generations.
For decorators and collectors alike, buying from a specialist dealer is the surest way to avoid reproductions and damaged goods. Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs has built its reputation on authenticity, and the Peking rugs that leave the gallery carry the confidence of a dealer who helped create the market in the first place.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are antique Chinese rugs valuable?
Yes, antique Chinese rugs are prized for their intricate designs, cultural symbolism, and masterful craftsmanship, all of which sustain strong collector demand. Peking rugs from the turn of the century are especially sought after when they retain their original colors, clean drawing, and fine weave. As with any antique textile, condition and rarity drive value.
How can you tell if a rug is an antique Peking rug?
Look for hand-knotted construction on a vertical loom, which is how Peking rugs were made. The pile is primarily sheep’s wool, though some examples are entirely silk or have a silk pile. Dates matter too: true antique Peking rugs generally date from around 1900 to the 1930s. A specialist dealer can confirm attribution.
What materials are antique Peking rugs made from?
Most antique Peking rugs were constructed primarily of sheep’s wool, hand-knotted on vertical looms. Some rugs were woven entirely of silk, and others had a silk pile, giving them a noticeably softer and more lustrous surface. The quality of the wool and the fineness of the weave are central to the category’s reputation.
How do I know if my old rug is valuable?
Start with the basics: how the rug was made, what it is made from, and how old it is. If it is hand-knotted on a vertical loom, made of wool or silk, and dates to the early twentieth century, it may belong to a sought-after category like Peking. The most reliable step is a professional appraisal from a dealer with experience in antique Chinese rugs.
Trusted by Collectors, Designers, and Rug Enthusiasts Worldwide
For more than 55 years, Robert Mosby has been recognized as one of America’s most knowledgeable and respected antique Oriental rug dealers. Since beginning his career in 1969, he has built a reputation for expertise, integrity, and an uncompromising commitment to authentic handmade rugs. His collection has been featured in museums, industry publications, and leading online rug marketplaces, earning the trust of collectors, interior designers, and dealers around the world.
Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs has been serving customers on the internet since 1999 and has successfully sold thousands of rugs through online platforms including eBay and Etsy. Every rug is personally selected, accurately represented, and backed by a straightforward satisfaction guarantee. Whether you are purchasing your first antique rug or adding to an established collection, you can buy with confidence from a dealer whose name is known throughout the antique rug community.
“When you buy from Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs, you’re dealing directly with decades of experience, expert knowledge, and a genuine passion for antique carpets.”
Why Customers Choose Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs as the best place to purchase their antique oriental rug
55+ years of Oriental rug expertise
Selling antique rugs online since 1999
In business since 1969
Largest collection of authentic Art Deco Chinese and Peking Chinese carpets in the world
Featured on respected rug industry websites and marketplaces
Antique Chinese Rugs occupy a distinct place in the history of handmade carpets. Collectors prize them for their soft wool, harmonious palettes, and symbolic motifs drawn from Chinese art and philosophy. While Persian and Caucasian weavings tend to dominate the conversation, antique Chinese carpets offer something different: a quieter, more pictorial approach to design that rewards close inspection.
A Short History of Chinese Carpet Weaving
Antique Chinese rugs date back as early as the 1780s. The tradition matured over the following century, and the period between 1880 and 1930 produced many of the finest examples seen on the market today. These hand-knotted carpets were made for a Chinese audience, which sets them apart from weaving traditions shaped mainly by export demand. The motifs, color choices, and compositions reflect Chinese aesthetic values rather than the tastes of foreign buyers.
Because the tradition spans more than a century, collectors divide antique Chinese rugs into several categories. The three that matter most are Peking, Ningxia, and Chinese Art Deco. Each has its own character, weaving characteristics, and collecting community. Understanding these categories is the first step toward building a meaningful collection.
Peking Rugs: Fine Weave and Refined Detail
Peking rugs take their name from Beijing, the city where many of these carpets were produced and traded. They are best known for their fine weave. The dense, even knotting allowed weavers to render delicate motifs with a precision that is difficult to achieve in coarser carpets. This fine weave, combined with the soft wool typical of Chinese rugs, gives Peking pieces a smooth and almost silky handle.
Designs often center on a single medallion or an open field with an understated border. The best examples show a restraint that appeals to collectors who find busier Persian carpets overwhelming. Peking rugs work beautifully in formal dining rooms, libraries, and bedrooms, where their quiet elegance can be appreciated up close. To see representative examples and learn more about identifying them, browse the Peking rug collection.
Ningxia Rugs: The Classical Chinese Sensibility
Ningxia rugs are regarded as the classical expression of the Chinese carpet tradition. They are generally earlier than Peking and Art Deco pieces, and they carry the symbolic vocabulary of Chinese art in its most direct form. Soft wool and harmonious palettes are hallmarks of the type, and the imagery often draws on the same visual language found in Chinese painting and porcelain.
For collectors, Ningxia rugs offer a way to own a piece of Chinese decorative art in textile form. Their restrained colors and meditative designs fit well in traditional interiors, and their historical importance gives them a special place in serious collections. Because these rugs are less common than their later Peking and Art Deco counterparts, they reward patience. Additional context is available in the Ningxia rug guide.
Chinese Art Deco Rugs: East Meets West
The most distinctive chapter in the story of antique Chinese rugs began in the 1920s. Chinese Art Deco rugs blend Eastern tradition with Western Art Deco style, and they were produced mainly in Tianjin and Beijing. The style reflects a fascinating moment of cultural exchange, when Chinese weavers absorbed the geometric boldness of European and American Art Deco design while keeping their own symbolic vocabulary intact.
These rugs feature Chinese motifs such as peonies, lotus flowers, and dragons, combined with bold geometric patterns and rich colors. The result is a carpet that feels both ancient and modern, which is why Art Deco Chinese rugs remain popular with interior decorators today. They bring a graphic energy to contemporary rooms without losing the handcrafted warmth of a traditional weave.
One important design stream is associated with Walter Nichols, whose workshops produced carved pieces with a sculptural quality. Nichols-style carved rugs are highly collectible, and minimalist designs from the same period appeal to buyers who prefer a quieter look. The wool density in Art Deco rugs is noticeably high, giving them a firm, plush feel underfoot that distinguishes them from earlier Peking weaves. Explore the Art Deco Chinese rug collection for a closer look at this remarkable period.
Colors, Iconography, and Motifs
The visual identity of antique Chinese rugs comes from a small but potent set of symbols. Dragons appear frequently, representing power and good fortune. Peonies and lotus flowers carry botanical and spiritual meaning, with the peony symbolizing prosperity and the lotus representing purity. These motifs are often arranged to reflect Chinese philosophy, with an emphasis on balance and negative space.
Color palettes are generally harmonious rather than jarring. Soft blues, warm golds, celadon greens, and ivory fields are common. Even the richer Art Deco pieces, with their bolder reds and blues, maintain a sense of balance. This restraint is one reason Chinese rugs complement both traditional and modern interiors, and why they have remained in demand for well over a century.
Antique Chinese Rugs in Modern Interiors
Interior decorators have long appreciated the versatility of antique Chinese rugs. The harmonious palettes and open compositions let these carpets anchor a room without overwhelming it. A fine-weave Peking rug can define a seating area with quiet authority, while a bold Art Deco piece brings graphic contrast to a minimalist space. The range of sizes available makes it possible to find a fit for almost any floor plan, from a narrow hallway runner to a grand drawing room carpet.
Value and Authenticity
Several factors drive the value of antique Chinese rugs. Age is among the most significant: the older the rug, the higher its likely value. A well-preserved 19th-century Ningxia will command a premium over a later production, all else being equal. Condition, weave quality, and the clarity and interest of the design also matter to collectors.
Authenticity is a concern for anyone buying hand-knotted carpets. All antique Chinese rugs are hand-knotted, so examining the weave structure is the first step in verification. Buyers should also look at the wool quality, the density of the knots, and the character of the dyes. Because Chinese rugs have been reproduced over the years, working with a dealer who has decades of hands-on experience is the safest way to build a collection with confidence.
Robert Mosby and Antique Oriental Rugs
Robert Mosby and the family team at Antique Oriental Rugs have spent more than 55 years buying, selling, and studying handmade carpets. That long history matters in a field where knowledge is built piece by piece. Few dealers can claim to have watched the Chinese rug market develop over several decades, and fewer still played an active role in building the market for antique Chinese rugs in the 21st century. Here is an interesting article published in Jozan Online Carpet Magazine about Robert Mosby and Art Deco Chinese Rugs
Based in Sarasota, Florida, the gallery carries authentic antique and vintage handmade Persian, Chinese, and Oriental rugs. The collection includes Peking, Ningxia, and Art Deco Chinese carpets, and the team serves as an educational resource on rug history, identification, and regional weaving traditions. The gallery also supports collectors through appraisals and purchasing guidance, helping clients identify, evaluate, and acquire antique rugs with confidence. Serious collectors and homeowners alike can rely on that expertise when searching for an investment-grade antique Chinese rug or a distinctive handmade piece for a specific room.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are antique Chinese rugs valuable?
Yes. Antique Chinese rugs date back as early as the 1780s, and age is a primary driver of value. The older the rug, the higher its likely value. Hand-knotted quality, condition, wool density, and design clarity also influence what collectors will pay. Pieces from the 1880 to 1930 period, especially well-preserved Art Deco works and fine-weave Peking rugs, are highly sought after.
How can I tell if a Chinese rug is authentic?
Authentic antique Chinese rugs are hand-knotted, so close inspection of the weave is the first step. Look at the wool quality, the density of the knots, and the character of the dyes. Reproductions exist, so comparing a candidate piece against known examples from the Peking, Ningxia, and Art Deco traditions helps. Buying from an experienced dealer like Antique Oriental Rugs, with more than 55 years in the trade, reduces the risk considerably.
What is the difference between Peking and Art Deco Chinese rugs?
Peking rugs are known for their fine weave and refined, often understated designs. Chinese Art Deco rugs, produced mainly in Tianjin and Beijing from the 1920s to the 1940s, pair traditional Chinese motifs such as peonies, lotus flowers, and dragons with bold geometric patterns and rich colors. Art Deco rugs also tend to have greater wool density and a firmer, plush feel.
Where were Chinese Art Deco rugs made?
Chinese Art Deco rugs were produced mainly in Tianjin and Beijing during the 1920s through the 1940s. Workshops in these cities, including those associated with Walter Nichols, created carved and minimalist designs that blended Chinese symbolism with Western Art Deco geometry. These hand-knotted rugs remain popular with collectors and decorators who value their mix of tradition and modernity.
Among all the forms of antique Oriental rugs, few are as distinctive or as historically significant as the pillar rug. Long, narrow, and almost always woven in matching pairs, these extraordinary carpets were never intended to serve as ordinary floor coverings. Instead, they wrapped around the massive wooden columns of Buddhist temples and imperial buildings, transforming structural supports into symbolic works of art.
Today, antique pillar rugs from Ningxia and Tibet are among the rarest Chinese carpets available to collectors. Their unusual format, religious symbolism, and exceptional artistry have made them highly sought after by museums and serious collectors worldwide.
At Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs, we have long admired these remarkable weavings. We actively seek authentic antique Ningxia and Tibetan pillar rugs because they represent one of the highest achievements of Chinese and Lamaist Buddhist textile art.
Information on Antique Pillar Rugs from Ningxia and Tibet
A pillar rug is a long, narrow carpet specifically designed to wrap around a cylindrical wooden column. Unlike runners, these rugs were never meant to lie flat on the floor. Their designs were created so that, when wrapped around a temple pillar, the imagery would spiral upward around the column, giving the illusion of movement.
Most pillar rugs were woven in mirrored pairs. One rug wrapped around the left side of a hall while its companion adorned the corresponding column opposite it, creating visual harmony throughout the temple.
These rugs were found primarily in:
Tibetan Buddhist monasteries
Lamaist temples
Imperial religious buildings
Palace ceremonial halls
Wealthy aristocratic residences with Buddhist shrines
The majority of surviving examples date from the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912), although weaving continued into the early twentieth century.
Why Ningxia Became the Center of Pillar Rug Weaving
Although pillar rugs are closely associated with Tibetan monasteries, many of the finest examples were actually woven hundreds of miles away in the Chinese province of Ningxia.
Located along important trade routes leading toward Tibet and Mongolia, Ningxia became one of China’s greatest carpet-weaving centers during the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. Skilled Chinese artisans produced carpets in virtually every format, including throne rugs, meditation carpets, chair seats, saddle rugs—and the famous pillar rugs destined for Buddhist temples throughout western China and Tibet.
The region had access to exceptionally fine sheep wool, whose long fibers produced soft, lustrous carpets capable of holding intricate designs for generations.
Dragons That Ascend to Heaven
The dragon is undoubtedly the most recognizable motif found on antique pillar rugs.
Unlike the fierce dragons depicted in many Western traditions, the Chinese dragon symbolizes wisdom, benevolent power, prosperity, rain, and imperial authority. On pillar rugs, the dragon often coils upward through clouds while pursuing the flaming pearl of wisdom.
When wrapped around a temple column, the dragon appears to spiral skyward toward the heavens.
This ingenious interaction between architecture and textile design is unique to pillar rugs and demonstrates the extraordinary artistic planning of their weavers.
Many dragon pillar rugs also include:
Sacred mountain motifs rising from ocean waves
Auspicious clouds
Flaming pearls
Buddhist emblems
Lotus blossoms
Lion masks
Ruyi cloud forms
Greek key borders
Pearl borders representing eternity
Together these symbols created an environment intended to inspire spiritual contemplation while reinforcing Buddhist and imperial iconography.
Early Imperial Pillar Rugs
The earliest surviving Ningxia pillar rugs are generally the most restrained in design.
Their dragons tend to be elegantly drawn with flowing movement rather than dramatic exaggeration. The colors are softly aged from natural dyes, often featuring warm saffron, golden yellow, ivory, muted blues, and subtle browns that have mellowed beautifully over centuries.
One exceptional example in the Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs collection is the early Antique Ningxia Pillar Rug #3827. Its refined drawing, balanced composition, and understated elegance exemplify the classic Qing Dynasty aesthetic that collectors prize today. The rug reflects the sophisticated artistic traditions associated with temple commissions and early Imperial Chinese weaving.
These earlier examples are increasingly difficult to locate because relatively few have survived intact after more than two centuries.
Later Dragon Pillar Rugs
During the late nineteenth century, pillar rugs often became more dramatic and visually bold while still preserving the traditional symbolic vocabulary.
A wonderful example is Antique Ningxia Chinese Pillar Rug #8181, featuring a magnificent blue dragon winding upward through clouds above the sacred mountain and wave border. The dragon’s animated body, expressive face, and sweeping tail create remarkable movement across the length of the carpet. Above the dragon appears a striking protective lion-face mask, while traditional Greek key and pearl borders frame the composition.
Although woven later than many Imperial-period examples, this rug beautifully demonstrates how Ningxia weavers continued to preserve centuries-old Buddhist and Chinese artistic traditions well into the late Qing period.
Tibetan Influence on Pillar Rugs
Because many pillar rugs were commissioned for Tibetan monasteries, Tibetan Buddhism strongly influenced their iconography.
It is not unusual to find:
Prayer wheel imagery
Temple bells
Endless knots
Lotus flowers
Conch shells
Buddhist canopies
Dharma symbols
Tibetan inscriptions identifying donors or monasteries
While the weaving itself often occurred in Ningxia, the imagery reflects the religious practices of the monasteries for which the rugs were intended. This blending of Chinese craftsmanship with Tibetan religious symbolism gives pillar rugs their distinctive cultural identity.
Fine Wool and Natural Dyes found in Ningxia carpets
The luxurious wool used in antique Ningxia pillar rugs remains one of their defining characteristics.
Raised in the grasslands of northwestern China, local sheep produced silky, resilient fleece that accepted natural dyes beautifully. Indigo created deep blues, madder produced warm reds, plant-derived yellows yielded the famous golden grounds, and walnut husks contributed rich earth tones.
Over generations these natural dyes have developed the soft patina collectors associate with authentic antique Chinese carpets.
Even today, many antique pillar rugs retain remarkable brilliance despite being well over one hundred years old.
Why Antique Pillar Rugs Are So Rare
Several factors contribute to their rarity.
Unlike room-sized carpets, pillar rugs served a highly specialized architectural purpose. Every monastery required only a limited number, and they were often exposed to centuries of incense smoke, sunlight, and physical wear while wrapped tightly around wooden columns.
Political upheaval during the twentieth century—including wars, the fall of the Qing Dynasty, and the Cultural Revolution—also resulted in the loss of many temple furnishings.
Consequently, authentic antique pillar rugs have become increasingly scarce, particularly complete matching pairs.
Why Collectors Love Pillar Rugs
Collectors are drawn to pillar rugs because they combine extraordinary artistry with fascinating historical purpose.
They are admired for:
Their unique architectural function
Strong dragon imagery
Imperial symbolism
Buddhist religious iconography
Exceptional Chinese wool
Natural vegetable dyes
Relative rarity
Outstanding decorative appeal in contemporary interiors
Because of their vertical format, pillar rugs also display beautifully on walls, allowing collectors to appreciate every detail of the intricate weaving.
Collecting Antique Ningxia and Tibetan Pillar Rugs
At Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs, pillar rugs occupy a special place within our collection. Their combination of artistic sophistication, religious symbolism, and architectural history makes them unlike any other category of Oriental carpet.
Whether an early Qing Dynasty example with refined classical drawing or a later dragon pillar rug with bold visual energy, each authentic pillar rug represents a surviving fragment of the spiritual and artistic traditions of Imperial China and Tibetan Buddhism.
As museums and advanced collectors continue to recognize their importance, antique Ningxia and Tibetan pillar rugs remain among the most desirable and historically significant Chinese carpets available today.
Few antique rugs combine understated elegance, rich symbolism, and remarkable craftsmanship as beautifully as the antique Peking Chinese rug. Woven primarily during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in and around Beijing (formerly known as Peking), these rugs have become highly sought after by collectors, interior designers, and homeowners who appreciate genuine handwoven works of art.
The Origins of the Peking Chinese Rug
The finest Peking rugs were woven in and around the city of Beijing during the late Qing Dynasty and into the early Republic period, generally between the late 1800s and the 1930s. Although China has produced carpets for many centuries, the Peking rugs woven during this period represent a unique blend of traditional Chinese symbolism and refined artistic restraint.
Unlike the highly geometric carpets of Persia or the tribal rugs of Central Asia, Peking rugs were inspired by Chinese painting, calligraphy, architecture, and the decorative arts. Their graceful compositions often feature generous open fields that create an atmosphere of serenity and balance.
These rugs were woven by highly skilled artisans working in family workshops and village weaving centers surrounding Beijing. Many weaving techniques were passed from one generation to the next, resulting in rugs that display exceptional consistency, craftsmanship, and artistic refinement.
One of the defining characteristics of antique Peking rugs is the meaningful symbolism incorporated into nearly every design.
Common motifs include:
Dragons representing imperial authority, wisdom, and strength
Phoenix birds symbolizing renewal, peace, and prosperity
Cranes signifying longevity and happiness
Bats, whose pronunciation in Chinese resembles the word for “good fortune”
Peonies representing wealth and honor
Lotus blossoms symbolizing purity and spiritual enlightenment
Clouds expressing harmony and good fortune
Butterflies denoting joy and long life
The Shou symbol representing longevity
Buddhist and Taoist emblems reflecting centuries of Chinese philosophy and religion
Unlike many Persian rugs, where dense all-over patterns dominate the field, antique Peking rugs often allow these symbols to “breathe” within spacious backgrounds. This restrained elegance is one reason designers continue to favor them in both traditional and contemporary interiors.
Every Antique Peking Rug Is Unique
Because every antique Peking rug was woven entirely by hand, no two examples are exactly alike.
Individual weavers interpreted traditional designs with subtle variations in drawing, proportions, color balance, and artistic expression. Even rugs based upon similar patterns possess unique personalities that reflect the hand of the artisan who created them.
These slight irregularities are not flaws—they are the unmistakable signatures of genuine hand craftsmanship.
Collectors sometimes confuse antique Peking rugs with Chinese Art Deco rugs, but they represent two distinct artistic movements.
Traditional Peking rugs generally predate the Art Deco period and maintain centuries-old Chinese artistic traditions. Their color palettes are often soft and understated, featuring shades of ivory, camel, pale blue, gold, tan, and muted earth tones.
Art Deco Chinese rugs, which became popular during the 1920s and 1930s, were designed primarily for Western export markets. They feature bolder colors, larger floral compositions, dramatic borders, and stylistic influences reflecting the modern Art Deco movement. While still beautifully handwoven, their designs embrace a more contemporary aesthetic than the classical elegance of earlier Peking rugs. (ART DECO CHINESE RUGS)
Construction also differs.
Earlier Peking rugs often display slightly denser knotting, carefully hand-spun wool, and a distinctive balance between design simplicity and weaving precision. Their older wool and naturally aged colors develop a warm patina that cannot be duplicated by newer rugs.
Exceptional Wool and Natural Dyes
One of the pleasures of owning an antique Peking rug is experiencing the extraordinary quality of the materials.
The finest examples were woven using high-quality Chinese wool prized for its softness, resilience, and subtle natural sheen. Many early rugs were dyed with traditional vegetable and mineral dyes, creating colors that mellow beautifully over decades rather than fading harshly.
The gentle blues, soft golds, warm ivories, muted browns, and elegant greys found in antique Peking rugs possess a depth and richness that synthetic dyes rarely achieve.
Over a century of careful aging gives these rugs a beautiful patina that collectors immediately recognize.
Why Collectors Love Antique Peking Rugs
Collectors value antique Peking rugs for several reasons:
Elegant and timeless design
Rich Chinese symbolism
Exceptional hand craftsmanship
Outstanding quality wool
Beautiful naturally aged colors
Compatibility with both traditional and modern interiors
Increasing scarcity of well-preserved examples
Their understated beauty allows them to complement contemporary décor just as effectively as historic homes.
At Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs, every antique Peking rug has been personally selected over many years of buying, studying, and evaluating fine antique carpets.
Our collection includes more than 80 authentic antique Peking Chinese rugs, representing a wide variety of sizes, colors, and decorative styles. Many date from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and have survived in exceptional condition.
With more than 55 years of experience in the antique oriental rug business, we understand the important differences between genuine antiques and modern reproductions.
Today’s marketplace contains many newly manufactured rugs that imitate antique Chinese designs. While these newer rugs may appear attractive at first glance, they lack the age, craftsmanship, wool quality, natural patina, and historical character that distinguish true antiques.
When purchasing from Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs, buyers can be confident that they are investing in authentic handwoven antique rugs that have been carefully evaluated for age, quality, construction, and originality.
About Robert Mosby Robert Mosby has specialized in antique Oriental rugs since 1969. He has traveled throughout China, and Central Asia, acquiring museum-quality antique rugs. He has written extensively on Chinese Art Deco rugs and antique Peking carpets and maintains one of America’s largest inventories.
Masterpieces of Persian Weaving and Symbols of Distinction
Among the most admired and collectible Oriental rugs ever woven, antique Tabriz Persian rugs occupy a special place in the history of decorative arts. Renowned for their exceptional craftsmanship, refined designs, and luxurious materials, these magnificent rugs have graced the homes of discerning collectors and affluent families for generations. Today, genuine nineteenth-century Tabriz rugs remain highly sought after, combining historical significance, artistic excellence, and enduring beauty.
The Legacy of Tabriz Weaving
Located in northwestern Persia (modern-day Iran), the city of Tabriz has been one of the most important rug-weaving centers in the world for centuries. As a major trading hub along ancient commercial routes, Tabriz attracted master designers, skilled weavers, and wealthy patrons who supported the production of some of Persia’s finest carpets.
During the nineteenth century, Tabriz workshops reached extraordinary levels of artistic achievement. Master weavers produced rugs distinguished by their remarkably fine weave, intricate drawing, and exceptional attention to detail. These rugs were handmade using carefully selected hand-spun wool, often sourced from the finest mountain flocks, creating a lustrous surface that ages beautifully over time.
Natural vegetal dyes were another hallmark of quality Tabriz production. Colors derived from madder root, indigo, walnut husks, pomegranate rind, and other natural sources produced rich, harmonious palettes that mellow gracefully with age. The resulting color combinations remain among the most admired in the world of antique Oriental rugs.
The Great Workshops of Nineteenth-Century Tabriz
Unlike village rugs produced for local use, many antique Tabriz carpets emerged from organized urban workshops where highly trained artisans specialized in every stage of production. Designers created sophisticated cartoons, master dyers prepared vibrant natural colors, and expert weavers translated these patterns knot by knot into textiles of remarkable precision.
These workshop rugs frequently featured elegant medallion compositions, intricate floral arrangements, scrolling vines, and architectural motifs inspired by Persian art and culture. Their superior quality and refined aesthetic appealed not only to Persian nobility but also to wealthy European and American buyers who increasingly sought Oriental rugs during the late nineteenth century.
As international demand grew, Tabriz became one of Persia’s most important export centers, supplying luxury carpets to some of the world’s most prestigious homes and estates.
A Mark of Esteem Among the Wealthy
By the late nineteenth century, ownership of a fine Persian Tabriz rug had become a symbol of sophistication, culture, and financial success. Wealthy homeowners throughout Europe and America prized these carpets for their artistic merit and rarity.
Prominent architects and interior designers incorporated Persian rugs into grand residences, libraries, drawing rooms, and formal dining spaces. A finely woven Tabriz carpet conveyed refinement and worldliness, reflecting an appreciation for craftsmanship that transcended mere decoration.
Many of these rugs were treated as works of art, passed from one generation to the next as treasured family heirlooms. Their durability, beauty, and historical significance continue to make them desirable investments today.
Pictorial Tabriz Rugs: Art Woven in Wool
Among the most fascinating examples of Tabriz weaving are pictorial rugs. These extraordinary carpets often depict historical scenes, landscapes, architectural subjects, or portraits rendered with astonishing detail.
A fine example is the Antique Tabriz Persian Rug available through Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs. Pictorial Tabriz rugs demonstrate the remarkable skill of master weavers who translated complex imagery into thousands of precisely placed knots. Their artistic complexity and limited production make them especially prized among collectors.
Hadji Lili Tabriz: Among the Finest Weaves Ever Produced
For many connoisseurs, the pinnacle of Tabriz weaving is represented by the celebrated Hadji Lili Tabriz rugs. These exceptional carpets are recognized for their extraordinarily fine knot counts, sophisticated drawing, and elegant color palettes.
The Antique Hadji Lili Tabriz Persian Rug offered by Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs exemplifies the qualities that have made these rugs legendary among collectors. Their refinement, rarity, and artistic excellence place them among the most desirable antique Persian carpets available today.
The Tabriz weaving tradition continued well into the twentieth century, adapting to changing tastes while preserving many of the techniques that established its reputation. During this period, some workshops began producing exquisite silk Tabriz rugs featuring incredibly detailed patterns and luxurious textures.
The Tabriz Silk Oriental Rug available through Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs illustrates how the artistry of Tabriz continued to evolve while maintaining its commitment to fine craftsmanship. Silk examples often display remarkable clarity of design and a luminous quality that enhances their visual appeal.
Authentic antique Tabriz rugs from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have become increasingly difficult to find. Many have disappeared into private collections, museums, and long-established estates. Fine examples that remain in excellent condition are highly sought after by collectors, interior designers, and investors alike.
Their rarity, historical importance, and enduring beauty contribute to their continued appreciation in the marketplace. Whether acquired for display, collection, or daily enjoyment, a genuine antique Tabriz rug represents a tangible connection to one of the world’s greatest artistic traditions.
Discover Exceptional Tabriz Rugs at Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs
For collectors seeking outstanding examples of antique Persian craftsmanship, Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs offers a carefully curated selection of Tabriz carpets, including pictorial examples, rare Hadji Lili weavings, and fine silk Tabriz rugs. Each rug is professionally catalogued, photographed, and thoroughly described to help buyers make informed decisions.
With more than 55 years in the antique Oriental rug trade, Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs has earned a reputation for selecting high-caliber rugs distinguished by quality, authenticity, and artistic merit. Their commitment to offering exceptional pieces allows discerning clients to acquire rugs that will be admired and appreciated for generations to come.
Whether furnishing a distinguished residence, expanding a collection, or seeking a lasting investment in decorative art, antique Tabriz Persian rugs remain among the finest and most prestigious carpets ever created.
About Robert Mosby
Robert Mosby has specialized in antique Oriental rugs since 1969.
He has traveled throughout Turkey, China, Turkey, India, Central Asia, and Europe acquiring museum-quality antique rugs.
He has written extensively on antique Turkish and Persian carpets and maintains one of America’s largest inventories of quality antique Persian rugs and carpets.
Persian Kerman rugs from the 1920s represent the pinnacle of grand, sophisticated interior design.
Woven in the historic city of Kerman in southeastern Iran, these carpets became highly sought-after status symbols in 20th-century American homes due to their unmatched craftsmanship, elegant coloration, and complex detailing.
Attributes of 1920s Kerman Rugs
The “Crowded” Aesthetic: Master weavers favored dense, all-over floral patterns on light backgrounds. Known traditionally as “Crowded Kerman” designs, these fields feature a breathtaking tapestry of closely grouped botany.
Distinctive Color Palettes: Unlike the intense, dark reds and navies of other Persian regions, Kerman weavers integrated softer accent colors. They utilized unique tobacco tones, subtle ivory bases, soft greens, and varying gradations of delicate blues.
Exceptional Material Quality: 1920s Kerman rugs were hand-knotted using high-grade, local Carmania wool. This specific wool type is celebrated for its fine silk-like texture, resilience, and excellent dye absorption, resulting in a durable rug with a full, luxurious pile.
Popularity in the 20th-Century American Market
During the economic boom of the early to mid-20th century, American home design shifted toward grand, open-concept floor plans that demanded commanding focal points. Kerman rugs were specifically adapted to fit American tastes through their color palettes. The cream, ivory, and soft pastel floral grounds blended seamlessly with upscale American furniture trends. They provided high-society households with an immediate statement of wealth, global worldliness, and design sophistication.
Why Choose an Antique Rug?
Durability: Antique rugs feature hand-spun wool and organic vegetable dyes. They outlast modern synthetic power-loomed rugs, which break down rapidly within a decade.
Investment Value: True antique rugs hold or increase their financial value due to scarcity. Machine-made alternatives depreciate to zero the moment they are purchased.
Unrivaled Sophistication: The subtle color variations (abrash) inherent to old-world vegetable dyes create a luminous, living depth that synthetic dyes simply cannot replicate.
Trusted Expertise: Robert Mosby and AntiqueOrientalRugs.com
Navigating the antique rug market requires trusted guidance to avoid modern reproductions. Robert Mosby, founder of Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs (operating online at antiqueorientalrugs.com), has spent 55 years as a premier expert and dealer in the field. Mentored by the legendary industry figure Richard Markarian in the late 1960s, Mosby has spent over five decades hand-selecting museum-quality textiles.
Mosby actively bridges the gap between historical preservation and modern interior design. By cataloging, preserving, and accurately representing these historic hand-dyed treasures, he keeps the soul of textile art alive for current home designers. A prime example of his curated collection is the spectacular Antique Kerman Oriental Rug #8028, a 7’9” x 10’0” masterwork from circa 1920 featuring four tobacco-and-blue floral medallions resting over an intricately packed ivory ground.
In the 1800s, India was home to some of the most accomplished workshops in the world, and the rugs in our collection trace their roots back to these celebrated regions:
Agra — Renowned for refined, sophisticated designs and luxurious, high-knot-count carpets, Agra produced some of the most coveted room-size rugs of the era. Many drew on classical Persian and Mughal court motifs.
Amritsar — A major center in the Punjab whose skilled weavers created elegant, finely detailed carpets, often in large and oversized formats prized for grand interiors.
Other regional traditions — From fanciful garden and hunting scenes to delicate floral fields, Indian weavers blended Persian-style motifs with their own Mughal-inspired imagination. Some of the finest pieces were woven with prized pashmina wool at remarkably high knots-per-square-inch counts.
From Indian Looms to American Homes
How did these treasures cross the world? During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, growing trade between India, Britain, and the United States brought these magnificent carpets to Western markets. Affluent American collectors and decorators — especially during the Gilded Age and the early 1900s — sought out Indian rugs for their scale, refinement, and jewel-like color. Many entered distinguished estates and have been carefully preserved ever since, which is exactly how pieces of this caliber survive in such remarkable condition today.
Rare Find: Over a Dozen Fine Antique Oriental Rugs from India — In Stock Now
When you walk across an antique Indian carpet, you’re walking across more than a century of craftsmanship. Right now, antiqueorientalrugs.com has assembled an exceptional collection of fine antique oriental rugs from India — over a dozen pieces, each 100 years old or older, ready to find their next home.
These are not ordinary carpets. They were woven during the great age of Indian weaving, finished with the finest handspun wools — frequently sourced from England — and colored with rich, hand-applied natural dyes that have only deepened in beauty over the decades.
A standout from our current Indian collection is a true work of woven art:
Size: 10’2″ x 16’2″ (310 x 492 cm)
Age: Last quarter of the 19th century
Condition: Mint — clean and ready to go
This extraordinary carpet is signed “Ghazan” and showcases a luminous light sky-blue field. At either end, images of the Sheikh Masjid Mosque at Karunagappally, Kollam, in Kerala, India sit atop two raised platforms accompanied by calligraphy. A medium central medallion in pale blue carries a pulled floral motif in soft gold and ivory, framed by four indigo urns brimming with flowers.
A loose, scrolling vine-and-flower pattern lends the field a distinctly Mughal character, while repeated inscriptions appear beside the medallion and at the base of the minarets. The whole composition is bordered by a golden, tobacco-toned major border of shields and palmettes within a five-reciprocal-border layout. It’s a fabulous, museum-worthy piece — Price on Request.
Bring a Piece of History Home
A genuine antique Indian rug is more than décor — it’s an heirloom, an investment, and a one-of-a-kind conversation piece that brings warmth and soul to any room, traditional or modern.
About Robert Mosby Robert Mosby has specialized in antique Oriental rugs since 1969. He has traveled throughout India sourcing museum-quality antique rugs. He has a varied inventory of these 18th century rugs often in room sizes.
Robert Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs Expert For more than 55 years, Robert Mosby has been recognized as one of America’s most knowledgeable and respected antique Oriental rug dealers. Since beginning his career in 1969, he has built a reputation for expertise, integrity, and an uncompromising commitment to authentic handmade rugs. His collection has been featured in museums, industry publications, and leading online rug marketplaces, earning the trust of collectors, interior designers, and dealers around the world. Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs began serving customers on the internet since 1999 and has successfully sold thousands of rugs through online platforms. See our shops on eBay and Etsy. Every rug is personally selected, accurately represented, and backed by a straightforward satisfaction guarantee. Whether you are purchasing your first antique rug or adding to an established collection, you can buy with confidence from a dealer whose name is known throughout the antique rug community.
“When you buy from Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs, you’re dealing directly with decades of experience, expert knowledge, and a genuine passion for antique carpets.”
Why Customers Choose Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs as the best place to purchase their antique oriental rugs:
55+ years of Oriental rug expertise
Selling antique rugs online since 1999
In business since 1969
Largest collection of authentic Art Deco Chinese and Peking Chinese carpets in the world
Featured on respected rug industry websites (JOZAN.NET)
Shop with confidence. Return the rug for any reason. Terms of service.
Why Buy an Antique Persian Rug? Few decorative arts combine beauty, craftsmanship, history, and investment potential as successfully as an antique Persian rug. Handwoven in the villages, towns, and cities of Iran during the 19th and early 20th centuries, these remarkable textiles are more than floor coverings—they are works of art that embody centuries of cultural tradition.
Today, buyers can choose between authentic antique Persian rugs and modern reproductions inspired by traditional designs. While reproductions may imitate the appearance of older rugs, they rarely capture the artistry, character, and enduring value of genuine antiques.
What Makes Antique Persian Rugs Special?
Antique Persian rugs were created during a period when weaving traditions were passed down through generations. Each rug was woven by hand, often using hand-spun wool and natural vegetable dyes derived from plants, insects, and minerals. The subtle variations in color, known as abrash, give antique rugs a depth and richness that machine-made or modern commercial reproductions cannot replicate.
Every region developed its own distinctive designs, weaving techniques, and color palettes. A Heriz from northwest Iran looks dramatically different from a finely woven Kashan or a tribal Qashqai rug from southern Iran. These regional differences make collecting Persian rugs endlessly fascinating.
Unlike factory-produced rugs, no two antique Persian rugs are exactly alike. Each piece reflects the artistic choices of its weaver and the traditions of its region.
Why Antique Rugs Are Better Than Modern Reproductions
Modern reproductions often copy historic Persian patterns, but they typically lack several qualities that make antique rugs desirable.
Superior Materials
Many antique Persian rugs were woven with high-quality hand-spun wool and natural dyes. These materials age beautifully, developing a soft patina and mellow color harmony over decades of use. Modern rugs frequently use chemically processed wool, synthetic dyes, and machine-assisted production methods that cannot achieve the same effect.
Proven Durability
An antique rug that has survived 100 years or more has already demonstrated its durability. Properly maintained antique Persian rugs often continue to perform beautifully for generations. Many collectors appreciate the fact that they are purchasing a textile with a proven track record rather than an untested reproduction.
Unique Artistic Character
Antique rugs possess a sense of individuality. Small variations in design, color, and execution reveal the human hand behind the work. Reproductions, even well-made ones, tend to be more uniform and predictable.
Historical and Cultural Value
When purchasing an antique Persian rug, you are acquiring a tangible piece of history. These rugs were woven during a period when traditional methods were still largely intact and regional identities remained strong. Many collectors value the connection to the people and cultures that produced them.
Long-Term Value
While no purchase should be viewed solely as an investment, authentic antique Persian rugs have historically retained their value. Over the years the availability of these old pieces has begun to diminish, making the remaining examples a sought out commodity.
The Great Rug-Weaving Regions of Iran
The major Persian rug-producing regions during the 19th and early 20th centuries included:
Northwest Iran
Heriz
Serapi
Tabriz
Bakshaish
Karaja
Known for bold geometric designs, durable construction, and rich earthy colors.
Western Iran
Hamadan
Malayer
Kurdish weaving centers
Bijar
Famous for village rugs with strong character and exceptional durability.
Central Iran
Kashan
Sarouk
Arak (Sultanabad)
Known for elegant floral designs, refined craftsmanship, and sophisticated color palettes.
Southern Iran
Qashqai tribal regions
Shiraz
Kerman
Produced some of Persia’s most artistic tribal and decorative rugs.
Eastern Iran
Mashhad
Birjand
Recognized for large-scale city rugs and intricate floral compositions.
Map of Major Persian Rug-Producing Regions
The map above highlights many of the most important weaving centers that produced the antique Persian rugs sought by collectors today.
Finding Authentic Antique Persian Rugs
Purchasing from a knowledgeable and reputable dealer is essential. Experienced dealers can explain a rug’s origin, age, condition, materials, and significance.
One highly respected source is Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs. Robert Mosby has been involved in the Oriental rug business since 1969 and has spent more than five decades studying, collecting, and selling antique rugs. Today, the company offers a large collection of antique Persian, Caucasian, Turkish, Chinese, and tribal rugs from numerous weaving regions. (PERSIAN ORIENTAL RUGS GALLERY)
Few woven objects carry as much history, mystery, and raw artistic power as an antique Caucasian rug. Knotted by tribal and village weavers high in the mountains and valleys between the Black and Caspian Seas, these rugs from the golden era of 1850 to 1900 are bold, geometric, and unmistakably alive with meaning. If you love textiles that tell a story, you’re looking at some of the most collectible weavings ever made.
Where They Came From: The Caucasus Mountains
The Caucasus is a rugged crossroads of Asia and Europe — a region encompassing present-day Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and Dagestan in southern Russia. It was never a single culture but a mosaic of dozens of ethnic groups, languages, and tribes living in isolated mountain communities.
That isolation is exactly why these rugs look the way they do. Each district developed its own distinctive vocabulary of design, and the names rug collectors cherish today are really place names:
Kazak — bold, large-scale medallions and fiery reds from the southwest highlands
Shirvan and Kuba — finer weaves with intricate, jewel-like detail from the east
Gendje, Karabagh, and Talish — long rugs with rhythmic, repeating patterns
Daghestan and Lesghi — crisp lattices and radiant star motifs
Because weavers worked from memory and tradition rather than from drawn cartoons, no two rugs are ever identical. Each is a one-of-a-kind expression of its maker.
Reading the Tribal Motifs
To the original weavers, these designs were never merely decorative. They were a visual language passed down through generations — symbols of protection, fertility, faith, and identity.
Stars and stepped medallions signified protection and good fortune
The “running dog” and latch-hook borders were believed to ward off evil
Stylized animals, peacocks, and the Tree of Life represented abundance, paradise, and continuity
Amulet and comb motifs were woven in to guard the home and family
How They Traveled: From the Caucasus to Turkey to America
So how did a rug knotted in a remote Azerbaijani village end up in a Boston parlor or a New York apartment?
The journey followed the great trade routes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Rugs were gathered from the mountain villages and carried to major commercial hubs, with Istanbul (Constantinople) in Turkey becoming one of the most important clearinghouses for the Western trade. From the bazaars and export houses of Turkey, bales of Caucasian rugs were shipped across the Atlantic.
This coincided perfectly with America’s Gilded Age, when a booming middle and upper class developed a passion for “Oriental” carpets as symbols of taste and worldliness. Department stores and specialty importers brought thousands of these weavings into American homes between the 1880s and 1920s. Many of the finest antique Caucasian rugs surviving today are pieces that came to America during that wave — and have been quietly preserved here for over a century.
Why Prime Examples Are So Scarce
Here’s the reality every serious collector eventually faces: truly great antique Caucasian rugs are vanishing from the market.
They were utilitarian objects, woven to be used — so the vast majority were worn out, discarded, or damaged beyond saving.
Genuine pre-1900 pieces with glowing natural dyes, full pile, and original ends and sides represent a tiny fraction of what was ever made.
Every year, more of the best examples disappear into permanent private collections and museums, never to return to the market.
When you find a prime example with strong color, a clear and confident design, and honest age, you’re looking at a finite, appreciating piece of cultural history.
A Buyer’s Warning: Beware of Convincing Reproductions
As demand for these rugs has grown and supply has shrunk, the market has filled with newer rugs deliberately woven to imitate antique Caucasian designs. Some are made carefully enough to fool inexperienced buyers — occasionally even using old, repurposed wool to mimic the look and feel of a genuine antique.
Before you buy, protect yourself:
Study the dyes. Natural dyes age with subtle, luminous variation; synthetic dyes often look flat or bleed.
Examine the back. Genuine age shows in honest, even wear and oxidation — not artificial distressing.
Question “too perfect” rugs. Crisp, flawless symmetry and bright uniform color can signal a modern reproduction.
Most importantly, buy from an expert you trust. Decades of hands-on experience are the single best defense against a costly mistake.
Buy With Confidence: Robert Mosby at Antique Oriental Rugs
This is exactly where deep expertise matters. Robert Mosby of Antique Oriental Rugs has spent over 55 years collecting and studying these weavings, and he deals only in authentic period Caucasian rugs from the 1850–1900 era — no reproductions, no guesswork.
The result is one of the finest curated inventories you’ll find online: a collection of 75 genuine antique Caucasian rugs currently available, each vetted for authenticity, age, and quality. For collectors and first-time buyers alike, it offers a rare chance to own a verified piece of this fast-disappearing art form — with the peace of mind that an expert eye has already done the hard work.
Explore the full collection of authentic antique Caucasian rugs here:
Whether you’re starting your first collection or searching for that one exceptional piece, now is the moment — because the prime examples that defined an era aren’t being made anymore, and they won’t last forever.
This article is part ofJozan Magazine’s ongoing series of personal portraits from the oriental rug world, highlighting the experiences and perspectives of dealers, researchers, and experts.
Robert Mosby is the founder of Antique Oriental Rugs, based in Florida, and has been active in the trade for over five decades. From a chance discovery in an Ohio antique shop to becoming one of the first rug dealers on eBay, Mosby’s story is a mix of intuition, mentorship, and market foresight. His passion for collecting has shaped one of the world’s largest inventories of antique Art Deco Chinese rugs.
My life in the rug business started in 1970 in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was browsing an antique store and bought two rugs for $150—not knowing what they were. A few weeks later, I passed a respected antique rug shop downtown. I walked in, showed them my rugs, and the owner offered me $1,600 on the spot.
That man was Richard Markarian, one of the most famous antique rug dealers in the U.S.—maybe in the world. I accepted the offer, and that moment changed my life. I eventually went to work for him, and on my third day, I sold two rugs to a college professor for $20,000. Markarian called me into his office and told me I’d just made the store’s biggest sale that month.
I spent five years under his mentorship. He taught me everything—identification, construction, repair, and the history behind every rug. When I eventually left to start my own business, he helped fund it. I owe him everything: my first sale, my love of collecting, and a career that’s now lasted 55 years.
In 1997, a friend told me he’d sold a rug I wanted for $8,000—on something called eBay. I had never heard of it. My wife Holly and I didn’t know the first thing about websites or even computers, but she learned quickly. We became one of the first antique rug dealers on eBay.
E-commerce changed everything. Suddenly, the world was our marketplace. I could buy more, hold more, and—most importantly—collect more.
I became especially drawn to antique Caucasian, Turkish, and Chinese rugs. I carved out a niche in Art Deco and Peking rugs, which weren’t very popular at the time. While 9×12 Decos were selling for $500, I was quietly building a massive inventory. One dealer in Macau gave me the idea that I could build a strong domestic market. It worked.
Our business grew. Holly and I traveled the world—through Oriental bazaars and back-room deals—always on the hunt. At some point, Holly told me, “You’re buying more than you’re selling.”
By 2020, our inventory had grown to over 1,100 rugs.
What can I say? I love rugs. I’ve loved them since the first one I ever saw. Of course, I’ve broken the golden rule Mr. Markarian taught me: Don’t fall in love with the inventory!
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Interview conducted by Ivan Sønderholm for Jozan Magazine. Edited with permission from Robert Mosby.
Robert and Holly Mosby, antique rug dealers from Sarasota Florida, took part in the ‘Carpet Study Tour to Western and Central Anatolia’ organized by Stefano Ionescu 5-20 June 2024.
‘We have approximately 1.000 fine antique rugs in our inventory but I can’t resist to buy a fine antique rug if the condition is good and the price reasonable’ said Robert Mosby from Antique Oriental Rugs to Jozan Magazine.
At the end of the Carpet Study Tour the Mosby’s still not had enough of rug shopping. They extended their stay and met up with a longtime friend and reputable rug dealer in Istanbul, who took them around to introduce them to merchants in the bazaars and backstreets of Istanbul.
Here they met a dealer they haven’t seen in 20 years. He told that in the 1990s after the break up of the Soviet Union when the Caucasus States were gaining independence a lot of Caucasian rugs flooded through Istanbul and subsequently were sold to dealers in European cities and in America.
These antique Caucasian rugs have largely left Istanbul, but occasionally they found a gentleman with a private collection to sell if the price was right. It seems that the price was right because Robert Mosby left Istanbul with a beautiful collection of antique Caucasian rugs.
Is my rug an antique or is it a vintage rug and what is the difference? The designation ‘antique’ is an actual legal term as specified by United States Customs Bureau which says that an item is considered an antique if it’s over 100 years old. Oftentimes and depending on other factors this is important because it can affect whether the item is subject to import duties at the time of the import into the country.
An antique is generally more valuable than a vintage rug. Vintage rugs are approaching the age of antique or approximately 75 years old or older thus woven prior to 1950. An antique rug is often made with natural dyes and will often be a one-of-a-kind piece made in a small workshop or by tribal women using traditional designs and iconographies native to the region in which it was woven. As such these rugs oftentimes will have historic significance. Today a rug is considered an antique if it was woven in 1925 or earlier. When we started in the business the antique rug was woven around 1875. Many of our antique rugs are from this time period and are very desirable as they are now 150 years old. We also specialize in Peking Chinese rugs from c 1900. These are truly beautiful super antiques.
Vintage rugs, while they may still be valuable, especially if they are hand woven wool or silk rugs can be made with either natural or synthetic dyes. Their design elements often mock those of antique rugs or they may have a more modern look about them in keeping with the tastes of the consumers. These will often be program rugs and the same design can be used multiple times as they are reproduced in larger workshops. Some dealers may call rugs woven in the last half of the 20th century vintage but these are ‘used’ rugs and haven’t yet achieved the status of vintage or antique rugs.
To sum this up… antique rugs are older, often more expensive depending on their condition and they are the more collectible and resalable pieces. Vintage rugs often come at a lower cost and may be more readily available and may be found in very good condition. At Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs we specialize in antique rugs and 95% of our inventory IS antique. All of our antique and vintage rug selections are hand woven, hand knotted, and made of natural fibers be it wool, silk, sometimes metal or cotton and will never be machine made. They will all stand the test of time. These are high quality desirable carpets that will enhance your rooms for years to come.
Zemfira Kajarova was only 16 when she came to the ethnic Azerbaijani village of Kosalar in 1976, in what was then the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. Despite hailing from a nearby town and being ethnic Azerbaijani herself, Kajarova was considered an outsider. She soon discovered a community that took great pride in its rug-weaving tradition, brought here centuries ago by its Turkic Muslim forebears.
Kajarova had to learn a new skill. “My mother-in-law taught me how to weave,” she says, smiling at the recollection. “This was how we bonded.”
Today weaving still bonds the older women of Kosalar who, like their ancestors before them, sit together at the loom in humble homesteads and produce Borchalo (or Borchaly) rugs recognized by collectors for their quality and design.
The carpets are handwoven with a luxuriously soft but thick pile, of wool dyed in a variety of natural colors extracted from plants that include juniper, walnut and madder. Their patterns use simple geometric symbols like the tree of life and medallions known as guls.
Despite antique examples fetching high prices at premier auction houses such as Christie’s, contemporary Borchalo rug-weaving faces a bleak future. All of the active weavers in the community are older than 50. Unless more young women learn the craft, it risks disappearing forever. “I’m afraid that this heritage will die,” says Kajarova. “The elderly can’t weave anymore, and the young people don’t want to take this responsibility. They say it’s difficult work.”
Regardless of the challenges, there is a growing recognition of the uniqueness of ethnic Azerbaijani rug-weaving in Georgia, and with new efforts on the way, there is hope that this tradition can be saved.
Tradition’s history
Kosalar sits on a grassy plain in southern Georgia, at the foothills of a volcanic mountain range stretching into modern-day Armenia and Türkiye. It is close to the town of Marneuli, formerly known as Borchalo, from which the rugs take their name.
Kosalar’s community forms part of a larger Azerbaijani minority in Georgia of almost 250,000 people. At the time of Georgia’s last census in 2014, ethnic Azerbaijanis in Georgia comprised 6% of the total population. Some sources suggest that number has increased.
Irina Koshoridze, chief curator of oriental collections at the Georgian National Museum, also believes that the Borchalo weavers are direct descendants of nomadic pastoralists from northern Iran who came to what is present-day Georgia during the Safavid dynasty.
“According to legends and historical sources, they were settled by Shah Abaz the Great in the 17th century,’’ says Koshoridze.“The name ‘Borchalo’ comes from the name of a nomadic Turkmen tribe, who originally lived in the Sulduz region of Iranian Azerbaijan, distinguished by their bravery and fighting skills.”
The origins of the Borchalo weavers are still open to debate.
Other historians claim nomadic Turkic tribes brought their culture to the Caucasus as early as the fourth century CE. “They moved from Central Asia. We’re talking about a huge territory and symbols from this huge community with different ethnicities,” says Shirin Melikova, former director of the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum. “If you research patterns and ornaments of all these communities, from Siberia, Altai, Uyghurs, from Central Asia to the Caucasus, you will see this one big picture,” she adds.
The region eventually fell into the hands of the Russian Empire and later became part of the Soviet Union. When the Russian Empire created a Caucasian Handicraft Committee in 1899, it aimed to develop weaving centers across the Caucasus to produce rugs for an international market. Steamboat and rail opened the regional rug trade to the wider world, connecting the bazaars of Tiflis (as the capital, Tbilisi, was then known) to tastemakers in New York and Paris.
According to Koshoridze, Borchalo and Karachop rugs (another regional variation) benefited not only from new looms and designs introduced during the Tsarist period but also from preserving their distinctiveness by a later quirk of fate.
Soviet planners chose to develop a carpet-weaving industry in established weaving centers around Baku, in Soviet Azerbaijan. Karachop and Borchalo, which were located in the neighboring Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, were excluded. “They kept their traditions because they never worked for an international market during the Soviet period, and this is why they were so special,” Koshoridze says.
When Western dealers “discovered” antique Borchalo rugs in the 1990s following the breakup of the Soviet Union, “they were seen as something new, with strong, bold and very individual designs,” says Koshoridze.
By then, though, most looms had fallen silent. Once, the women had woven their bridal dowries from their wool or sold the rugs to merchants in Tbilisi. But the 1990s were desperate times. The wool industry was broken, and cheap machine-produced rugs left the weavers with little incentive to continue their work.
Those who did continue used any materials they could find, including artificial fibers and chemical dyes. Idiosyncratic prayer rugs of vivid colors were woven for local mosques. They possessed their own folk charm, but the 19th-century artistry had been abandoned. “No one supported these women, and nobody bought these carpets like they used to; that’s why many weavers stopped this tradition,” says Melikova.
Revival
While rug-making has been part of Azerbaijani traditions for centuries, the communities faced losing the craft in recent years.
Then a young American Christian missionary saw an opportunity to jump-start the looms of Kosalar again.
Ryan Smith fell in love with the weaving culture when he lived in Azerbaijan in the early 2000s.
As he traveled in the region and met people, he had a vision: Create a market for new Borchalo rugs made with the luxury and motifs of the finest antiques.
A fluent speaker of Azerbaijani, Smith found buyers, sourced quality wool and natural dyes, and persuaded retired weavers to reproduce the work of their grandmothers. In 2014 he founded a local nonprofit organization, reWoven, to restore traditional rug-making.
Ryan, Melikova says, inspired a revival. “This was a big part of his life. It wasn’t just a question of business. He did a lot to revive this tradition in Georgia. And he started to work with the local women.”
reWoven ships about 30 rugs a year. Larger ones cost up to US $3,000, and the weavers receive a competitive price for their work. All the remaining revenue funds community projects.
“The margins are really thin,” says William Dunbar, “but we have been able to increase the cost per square meter, and we will continue to do so.” Dunbar took over reWoven’s management after Smith’s tragic death in 2018. His motivation is to continue Smith’s work and sustain the tradition.
Some of the looms are 100 years old and may even have made rugs that command a $125,000 price tag at Sotheby’s and Christie’s, Dunbar notes.“It’s super important for the communities in which they are woven to understand that people value this incredible cultural production,” he says.
A new generation
The lack of weavers makes it challenging to keep up with demand for rugs. A solution might not be far off. The Tea House in Marneuli, an education center, provides cultural classes for young people.
Fourteen-year-old Maia Ziadalieva recently became curious about weaving while waiting for her brother to finish his dance classes, though she knew nothing about the tradition before trying it. “There is a silence here, and I feel relaxed while weaving,” Maia says. “I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I do like the process, and I think others can too. I would like to teach it.”
Twelve students are currently learning to weave. However, Tea House director Emin Akhmedov has a bolder vision: establishing weaving centers in villages where the culture is still alive. “We can see people ready to spread the knowledge,” says Akhmedov. “And we need young people’s knowledge in terms of marketing or branding to see it as a business.”
“We’re never going to be a big business,” says Dunbar. reWoven is instead focused on artistic preservation, sustaining a cottage industry rather than scaling up, though he sees opportunities for “up-skilling” the community.
A reWoven finishing station will soon complete the final cleaning and softening of rugs in Georgia. Currently, the process is outsourced to Azerbaijan. Dunbar explains that the yarn is sourced in Iran and then dyed in Baku, but that, too, could change.
“These carpets were not made with imported yarn 100 years ago. We’ve got a million sheep in Georgia; the wool value chain has collapsed. We can use Georgian wool, and we can pay the shepherds a little bit extra. We can get it dyed here.”
In Kosalar, the women bake their loaves of flatbread together in a small bakery, a shed with a stone oven. The fire blazes with thorny branches of brushwood, and the steaming flatbreads are filled with a local spinach variety. Their shared labor, at the loom or in the fields, ensures a continuity of tradition.
Their exquisite rugs, which can trace their lineage back to the Safavid dynasty, have evolved and adapted. They are guided both by their own aesthetic and by international demand. And though the future is still uncertain, Borchalo rugs’s existence no longer hangs by a thread.
Pearly Jacob is a multimedia journalist, photographer and filmmaker. She has traveled widely across Central and South Asia and Western Europe by bicycle, and has produced stories on a wide variety of environmental, sociocultural and human-interest topics for clients ranging from Al Jazeera, BBC, DW, National Geographic, Voice of America and others.
Robin Forestier-Walker
Robin Forestier-Walker is a British freelance journalist and filmmaker based in Tbilisi, Georgia. He has written and reported extensively for the Al Jazeera Network in the South Caucasus, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
See our ANTIQUE BORCHALOU CARPETS collected and FOR SALE by Mosby Rugs!
We scour the planet for antique rugs and try to join study tours to out of the way places that lead us where we will be likely to find interesting Oriental rugs in Museums or better yet for sale! Here are a few times we met up with Ivan on our journeys or related our experience to him. It was fun to find this on his esteemed website today as I had no idea he had journaled our travels.
See Jozan’s articles about or mentioning Robert and Holly Mosby in their quests for Antique rugs:
If you are interested in following the happenings worldwide in the rug community such as current auctions and sales of note or upcoming study groups or in purchasing from some noteworthy Rug Vendors such as ourselves https://antique-rugs.jozan.net/, please visit Jozan at https://www.jozan.net/.
Contact Jozan’s editor Ivan Soenderholm at Jozan Magazine by email to ivan@jozan.dk. He is located in the Copenhagen area in Denmark. He sends out an email newsletter you can sign up to receive on his website.
Oh, the places we go to find rugs. We were caught in a sandstorm here. It came out of nowhere and was like being whipped with diamond dust. I retreated into this stone hut but Rob and a few friends were nowhere to be found. I was terrified for them. Luckily, I had a scarf around my neck to wear in the Mosques so I wrapped my face and ran. Anyway Rob bought a rug and that’s all he recalls but I’ll always remember buying a rug in a sandstorm in a stone hut!
The image on the left is earlier at a ceramic shop not the Cappadocian rug stop.
The Cappadocian landscape. The windstorm cleaned out these fairy towers!
REPRINTED FROM ARAMCO WORLD a very interesting article to those of us in the Rug World. See the link below to go to the issue originally published and see the article with pictures of Transylvania Rugs and Transylvania and its Lutheran Churches. The publisher asked we don’t share copyrighted photos.
Its central plateau open only to the Great Hungarian Plain to its west, Transylvania could be likened, on a geographical scale, to a walled city: To get there from any other direction, one must cross the high passes and navigate the labyrinthine valleys of the Carpathian Mountains. Perhaps it is this relative inaccessibility that lent Transylvania—literally “beyond the woods”—a reputation as a land of mysteries both romantic and real. It is famously the haunt of the fictional 19th-century Count Dracula, as well as, infamously, that of the factual 15th-century Prince Vlad Ţepeş (the Impaler). More curiously, even surprisingly, this region of north-central Romania is home to the world’s finest collection 16th- and 17th-century Ottoman carpets—some 400 of them.
How these carpets arrived in Transylvania not long after they were woven, and how they remain there today, is a story of pluck and perseverance. Recognized by the world’s top connoisseurs and collectors, these carpets have only lately been given their due, and they have animated discussion about the interplay of endangered property, ethnic pride and the ownership of cultural patrimony.
Inhabited in antiquity by Dacians, the region had long been a prize contested by outsiders. Romans, Hungarians and Turks were the most powerful players, even if often from a remove. Romans left behind their Latin-based language, Hungarian kings sent their princes to rule in their stead, and the Turks collected tribute for protection and nearly complete internal autonomy. German Saxons from the southern Low Countries and Rhineland arrived in the 12th century at Hungarian invitation as a population buffer against inruding tribes from the east.
Instead of serving as Hungary’s buffer, however, Transylvania ended up a few centuries later serving as an Ottoman vassal. A 16th-century miniature captures the relationship as Hungarian King John ii Sigismund Zápolya kneels in fealty before Ottoman Sultan Suleiman (the Magnificent) in 1556. This would have been the heyday of Transylvanian Turkophilia, as reflected in the carpet collections of today. Although the demand for Ottoman carpets appears to have dampened by the early 18th century, when the Hapsburgs took control of the region and several Anatolian manufacturers closed, it endured through the early 19th century.
This coupled-column rug dates from the second half of the 17th century and hangs in the choir of the Black Church.
To its advantage, and despite its Carpathian fortifications, Transylvania sat astride a major east-west trade route, with many of its traders doing business with the region’s prosperous German Saxons in towns such as Sibiu, Sighişoara and Braşov. Luxury and other goods were exchanged under what was called “the right of staple,” which meant that passing merchants were obligated to offer all wares at fair prices in the town market.
Among the wares were carpets. A Braşov customs register from 1503 recorded that 500 carpets passed through the town in that year. While Western Europeans were accustomed to placing carpets under foot, Transylvanians often used their carpets to adorn walls—nowhere more than in churches, where they were also frequently placed on pew fronts. There was reason for this: The Reformation came to Transylvania in the late 16th century. Its reformers whitewashed or destroyed Catholic frescoes, some dating from the 14th century, while the new Lutheranism did away entirely with figurative images and icons inside its places of worship. In their places, for decoration, they hung Ottoman rugs, many of prayer niche or arabesque designs, including distinctive white-background designs known as Selendis, after the Anatolian village of their manufacture.
Indeed, as art historian Agnes Balint-Ziegler pointed out, Ottoman carpets were a means by which a church “was stripped of the everydayness and imbued with a sacred character.” In this essentially public setting, Ottoman carpets donated by artisan guilds became equivalent to corporate status symbols, and those given by patrician families became a similar “means of private posturing.”
English writer Emily Gerard, whose essay in Blackwood’s Magazine titled “TransylvanianSuperstitions” inspired Bram Stoker’s 1897 Dracula, lived in Sibiu and Braşov in the early 1880s. Her book The Land beyond the Forest: Facts, Figures, and Fancies from Transylvania described Braşov’s mix of Germans, Romanians and Hungarians alongside “other figures red-fezzed, be-turbaned, or long-robed, which, giving the population a kaleidoscopic effect, makes us feel that we are next door to the East, and only a few steps removed from such things as camels, minarets, and harems.”
Bucharest’s National Museum captures well Romania’s multiethnic society at the time. There hang portraits of men with such titles as serdarul, or cavalry officer, a word derived from Persian via the Ottoman language; negustorul, or merchant, the name taken from Latin; and voievodul, or prince, this one from Old Church Slavonic. (For each, the Romanian suffix –ul, denotes a definite article, just as the name Dracula, from drac, means the devil.)
“In the church itself,” Gerard observed further, “hang some of the most exquisite Turkish carpets I have ever seen—such tender idyllic blue-green tints, such gloomy passionate reds, such pensive amber shades, as to render distracted with envy any amateur of antique fabrics.” Unfortunately, Gerald continued, these masterpieces were not “purchaseable for even the untold sums of heavy gold.”
Awestruck by the value and beauty of the carpets, Gerard wrote, some foreigners coveted them, yet their longings were in vain, for they were not for sale. “There was ein verrückter Engländer (a mad Englishman) here some years ago,” a churchwarden informed Gerard, “who would have given any price for the pale-blue one up yonder, and he remained here a whole month merely to be able to see it every day; but he had to go away empty handed at last, for these carpets are the property of the church, and not even the bishop himself has power to dispose of them.”
Not until 1898 were the rugs catalogued, and Romania’s 50-year period of communism further isolated them from scholars and enthusiasts. Only recently has an Italy-based Romanian independent scholar named Stefano Ionescu taken on the task of cataloguing, protecting, replicating as necessary and generally defending the carpets as one of Transylvania’s most beautiful artistic treasures, one that should stay in its historic place.
Braşov’s Black Church, believed to be the largest church between Vienna and Istanbul, is so called because of a fire in 1689 that burned many of the carpets in the nave. Those held in the sacristy survived, and it still holds almost half of the carpets still in Transylvania. Only some can be easily seen: The more valuable ones, including those brought from the town’s other parishes of St. Bartolomeu and Blumena, as well as those from the nearby fortified village churches of Prejmer, Sânpetru, Râşnov and Hărman, are stored away. Many, however, still hang throughout the church, giving its interior the appearance of a tactile patchwork of red and yellow pile threads against the austerity of its flat, white walls.
Ionescu, along with a Lutheran church administrator named Frank Ziegler and a handful of pastors in nearby towns, work as the carpets’ foremost champions. Ionescu calls the survival of these carpets a “fascinating intercultural phenomenon” and attributes their number to more than mere trade—not just in carpets, but also tenting, blankets, towels and fine clothing. (Local Hungarian nobles and urban Saxons, with Greeks and Bulgarians, were among the first Europeans to adopt articles of Eastern dress.)
The marketplace of Braşov was one of the places where merchants for centuries brought their Turkish wares. In the municipal building, at left, the town used to make donations of carpets for special occasions such as prominent weddings, births, and to honor important guests.
Not until 1898 were Transylvania’s rugs catalogued.
Ionescu largely credits the religious tolerance of Transylvanians to explain the presence of the rugs’ frequent Islamic symbolism in a Christian setting, noting also the practical role that carpets play in everyday life—as a kind of bridge walked across, whether from one side of the room to another or from one culture to another. German Saxons certainly saw them in almost entirely secular, commodified terms—as prestige items—as painter Robert Wellmann showed in “The Adornment of a Saxon Bride,” an early 20th-century painting that shows, draped on a table beside a young woman being dressed, a Selendi “bird” carpet.
Similarly, it was not uncommon for 19th- and 20th-century Romanian painters to feature Ottoman carpets in their interior scenes. Nicolae Grant, whose English father was a diplomat and rug merchant, studied under the famous French orientalist painter Jean-Léon Gérôme in Paris. Modernist Gheorghe Petraşcu painted Transylvanian rooms in the style of Henri Matisse’s Moroccan tableaux, strewn with patterned textiles and upholsteries.
Ziegler notes that for some time it was a Transylvanian tradition to honor visiting dignitaries with gifts of carpets from the municipal guilds. In the 17th century alone, an estimated 1,000 carpets were given away.
Among Ziegler’s favorites, is a Lotto—so called after Lorenzo Lotto, an Italian painter who favored this style in his paintings. “Red, with yellow branches, and a narrow border, it represents 100 percent our uninterrupted heritage here,” he says. “It was never bought or sold again once it was given to the church, possibly after a funeral when the casket of the donor’s relative rested on it at the altar, or maybe it had dressed the church for a wedding or baptism. In any case, it transmits the value of past generations to all of us living today.
“We are not as much interested in holding copies as we are in maintaining the originals. Each bit of missing pile or stain speaks of our story too,” Ziegler adds. Some carpets have donation inscriptions written on the borders in black ink, “so we know the names and dates of the carpet’s donor.” For example, an early-17th-century prayer rug given to the church in Sibiu is noted with the date 1720 and “D. Mays.” Still vividly hued, a late-17th-century double-niche carpet was given to the church in Ghimbav in 1706 by Hannes Merglers. And more.
With the coming of Reformation aniconism—proscriptions against religious imagery—church frescoes were whitewashed or destroyed. The Anatolian rugs, with their soft colors and floral or complex geometric motifs became a prestigious decoration for churches. In St. Margaret’s Church in Mediaş, several fine types of Ottoman rugs survived: Holbeins, which are the earliest; Lottos; white-ground Selendis of three types—”bird,” “scorpion” and çintamani; and a variety of rugs called “Transylvanian” rugs.
St. Margaret’s holds the most exquisite of the collections.
Nineteenth-century English writer and poet Charles Boner traveled through the Carpathians and wrote of its various guildsmen—furriers, goldsmiths, cabinetmakers and others—sitting in St. Margaret’s Church in Mediaş, a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Braşov’s Black Church. There, he wrote, “oriental carpets hung upon a great number of the pews as a sort of arras,” and carpet fragments were used as seat covers and possibly wintertime lap rugs.
St. Margaret’s still holds the most exquisite of the collections, including four Holbeins and an Ottoman çintamani design marked by its tiger stripes: three dots and a squiggly line, lightheartedly translated into German as katzenpfoten (cat’s paw).The collection also comprises those with vogelkopf, a “bird-head” pattern, as the name implies. A replica carpet with an animal motif woven a few years ago in the Anatolian town of Konia, based on a 1930s photograph of a now-lost carpet, hangs next to a 16th-century Holbein fragment that first hung in a nearby church in Băgaciu; also there is a 17th-century, fully intact Lotto from Agârbiciu.
Such esteem goes a long way toward explaining why Teodor Tuduc, one of history’s greatest rug forgers (to the extent that carpet buyers often call any kind of fake “a Tuduc”), who worked in Braşov between the two world wars, chose to make and sell hundreds of fake Transylvanians before trying his hand at faking Persian, Caucasian and even Spanish carpets. As a result, there are still many unrecognized Tuducs in the market, and even some of those known for what they really are have become collector’s items in their own right.
Sighişoara is one of the very few medieval citadels in eastern Europe that is a continuously inhabited unesco World Heritage Site. Today its collection consists of 36 classical Anatolian rugs, many of which are inscribed with the names of donors. Just under half are Lottos. Because many of the rugs had been cut, they have been restored and reintegrated using pieces from other rugs
According to Walter Denny, a professor of art history at the University of Massachusetts and a carpet consultant for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Tuduc’s fakes can tell us much about how the original carpets were valued and perceived at the time the forgeries were made. “He imposed a precision and symmetry on artistic traditions that today we know once valued more improvisation,” says Denny. Thus to an expert, Tuduc’s fakes are easy to spot precisely because they were too perfect in pattern. They “imposed an element of outline and linearity on traditions we now realize exploited color first and foremost.” In other words, he exaggerated the perfection of form and neglected to perfect his color palette.
An Ottoman fatwa dating from 1610 may help solve another mystery about Transylvanian carpets: Why are there among them so many “double-niche” carpets? These are carpets in the style of a traditional Islamic prayer rug, in which a pointed center field, designed after the Islamic mihrab that, in a mosque, points the direction of prayer. The double-niche carpets, however, show two points to the center field, as if the mihrab has two directions. This is no small question: According to a recent worldwide inventory, among 17th-century Ottoman carpets, 337 are double-niche designs, most in collections outside Turkey, and many in Transylvanian churches.
Ionescu believes there may be a connection between this and the 1610 edict by Ottoman Sultan Ahmad i that forbade the export of carpets with specifically religious patterns to Europe: By adding the mihrab’s mirror image on the opposite side, a carpet woven for export could not be considered—strictly speaking—a prayer rug.
At some point in Transylvania, one encounters Dracula. The northern town of Bistriţa figures in the first chapter of Bram Stoker’s novel. Protagonist Jonathan Harker heads there and, as he says in the novel’s opening, “The impression I had was that we were leaving the West and entering the East.” After spending a troubled night, “I did not sleep well though my bed was comfortable enough…. There was a dog howling all night under my window, which may have had something to do with it; or it may have been the paprika.”
It is odd indeed that Stoker, giving voice to Harker, should blame his insomnia on paprika. The Ottomans introduced the dried and powdered New World pepper spice to eastern Europe in the 16th century—just about the same time that the first Ottoman carpets arrived in Transylvania. From a purely culinary point of view, Harker might as easily have blamed other Romanian staple foods and beverages with names borrowed from the Turks—ciorbă, or soup; ceai, or tea; and covrig, a pretzel.
Bistriţa also provides its own tale, this a cautionary one on the nexus of community and patrimony, as told by Hans Dieter Krauss, the ebullient pastor of the town square’s grand gothic church. Pastor Krauss is trying hard to keep his flock intact despite its dwindling numbers in the latter years of the 20th century—first from the depredations of war, then communism and finally the call from the Federal Republic of Germany for ethnic Germans to return to the homeland. The 1910 census recorded 12,000 Germans in town, but that dropped to 5,000 in 1940, and by 1996 there were only 223 counted. (Since the fall of communism, some 1.5 million Germans have left Romania, leaving behind a national total of 36,000.)
Krauss, however, mourns more than the loss of community. In 1944, fearing the arrival of the Soviet Red Army, the town’s Saxons took 53 fine Ottoman carpets from the church for safekeeping in Germany, where they remain today in the Nuremberg Museum. Now he wants them back “because they are ours,” he says simply, “and they belong to their home parish.” He cites the principle of national patrimony as well as the basic property rights of Romania’s Lutheran Church and its Saxon culture.
Because Krauss stayed put when so many of his fellow ethnic Germans left, he feels a personal claim for their return. In the interim, Ionescu and others are arranging for authentic facsimiles to be made in the Sultanhanı weaving center and to donate to Bistriţa. Such work requires high-resolution photos and knot counts transferred to precise designs, and no fewer work hours as the originals. A red field-column carpet has already been donated to celebrate the church’s 500th anniversary.
Bruno Fröhlich is the senior pastor of the main German parish in Sighişoara, first recorded in 1298 as a Dominican church that later converted to Lutheranism. Among its 40 carpets is one with a donation inscription dated 1646. Pastor Fröhlich notes how in the 19th century the church took over from the guilds as the custodians of German patrimony, as industrialization displaced the highly skilled craft workers. As the laymen lost status, churchmen became the community’s symbolic representatives.
He muses about the carpets engaging in a kind of unspoken interfaith dialogue for the 21st century. “Romania is a meeting place of many faiths and ethnicities,” he says. “Go to Dobrogea [the Black Sea region], where prayer is called daily from minarets in Babadag, Constanţa, and Mangalia. And they are not just ethnic Turks and Tatars in mosques there. Many Arab students came to Romania during the Soviet period, and married and stayed on. Just as Braşov merchants controlled the Eastern trade routes, the physical distance—or should I say proximity?—has not changed in today’s times.”
Despite the ethical and moral rights of custodianship, others question the degree to which small churches are able to care properly for carpets that now carry so much value. Light and heat are damaging; there is a risk of theft. The fortified church of Biertan, a unesco World Heritage Site near Mediaş built high on a crag and for three centuries the bishop’s seat, has two Selendi white field carpets. Five years ago in a London auction, a similar carpet sold for over a third of a million dollars, despite a condition report indicating reweaves, repairs, repiling and uneven overall wear—nothing like the fine state of those in Biertan. Carpet thieves are not necessarily deterred by having to climb a crag.
In Braşov’s Black Church, a pair of plain-field mihrab carpets, one single-niche and one double-niche, flank a war memorial plaque.
In Sibiu, the Brukenthal National Museum displays carpets that have helped make Transylvania’s Ottoman legacy most famous. Ionescu lauds an early-17th-century prayer carpet there as the best-known example in the world: Its lobed mihrab and star-and-cartouche border, with a lamp motif in the spandrels, is modeled, he says, on the stained-glass design in Sinan the architect’s great 16th-century Mosque of Suleiman, a conclusion Sinan scholar Gülru Necipoğlu-Kafardar called “fascinating.”
Other pieces in the Brukenthal collection help close this story’s circle. A painting of St. Jerome by Lorenzo Lotto, whose painting of another saint, “The Alms of St. Anthony,”in Venice, gave his name to the most recognized design motif in all Anatolian carpets, hangs not far from a Lotto carpet originally from a nearby church. Just across the floor from this is a painting by the Romanian Theodore Aman, also born nearby, of an Orientalist room strewn with Ottoman rugs. Might his models have been some of the carpets now in the museum, once displayed in churches, one of them, perhaps, that very same Lotto?
There is nothing like the warmth and personality of a handmade antique Oriental Rug to add interest to a room! Rugs do not only belong on the floors either. Look at these rugs as art! Because truly they are art. Each knot is meticulously knotted following the design of a master. Some are age old designs. Our rugs are 100 years old or older. Take at look at how they add sophistication to contemporary interior design! These are all rugs for sale on the website although a few are out of stock.
Hunter of valuable artifacts left behind by Armenians as they fled the Ottoman Empire in 1915
Owner and CEO at HyeAntiques
I have to laugh at the ignorance of so-called rug experts, many of whom are authors, who insist Armenians were only rug traders.
They were not just traders, they OWNED and CONTROLLED a large part of the rug industry in the Ottoman Empire prior to 1915.
First let’s establish their control with these three quotes from the 1903 book entitled “The Oriental Rug” written by W.D. Ellwanger.
“And yet the Armenians who handle most of the rugs in this country are often highly educated, and fully appreciate the beauty of their wares” pg. 5
“Large or small retailers may import some pieces directly from London, Paris, or Constantinople, but even the most important retailers buy heavily from the great Armenian wholesalers in New York City”. pg. 74
“These various Armenian dealers are universally known for their shrewdness and cleverness as well as for other ingenuousness and natural courtesy. Except the heads of the carpet departments in some few large concerns, they know much more about their wares than other salesmen, and their personal, live knowledge gives a fillip of enthusiasm to the purchaser. They would control the retail trade in rugs, were it not that the department store”. pg. 113
Not only were the Armenians the manufacturers in the Ottoman Empire, they also controlled the rug distribution in the US and the world. In the US early 20th C, 75% of the dealers were Armenians.
If you have any common sense, then you would understand when you control the manufacturing and the distribution YOU DICTATE THE DESIGN and HIRE WHOM YOU WANT TO WEAVE. In the case of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, as a minority always under threat, it was natural they would HIRE from within their own community.
Here is a quote from Antony Wynn, biographer of the the Oriental Carpet Manufacturers Company, owned by the Armenian Spitalian family the biggest rug company in the world at the end of the 19th C.
“The OCM, as it expanded its weaving further and further into Anatolia, employed, almost WITHOUT exception, Greek or Armenian weavers”.
So to conclude, you can thank Armenian businessmen, designers, dyers and especially their young women for most of the beautiful pre-1915 antique Anatolian and Caucasian rugs that you enjoy today.
A few words about KPSI or KPI knots per square inch or knots per inch. The quality and price of a handmade oriental rug is often determined by the amount of time a weaver has to spend to knot the rug. Of course this is only one element in an antique rug to determine value. Other determining factors such as rarity, wool quality, design complexity, desirability, condition etc all come into play in the market as well. If you look at the backside of a rug and have a ruler handy you can determine the knot count by counting the knots horizontally across one inch and making note of that figure then counting the knots vertically by one inch. Multiply the two figures together and you will get the KPSI. The higher the knot count the tighter the weave and the finer the rug. BTW: An American Quarter coin measures roughly one inch across so you could throw that down to count the knots.
Rug weavers in general while working on a loom sitting side by side with three weavers working on a 9’x12’ rug could tie 18,000 knots per day. It could easily take these weavers 4 months working full time to weave a 9’ x 12’ rug.
The Back of A Turkish Sivas Rug
The Back of A Hadjili Tabriz Persian Rug ~ These are known for their exceptionally high knot count! Can you see the difference?
To distinguish between Persian and Turkish Oriental rugs it is expedient to differentiate the hand knotting technique employed. Here is a useful diagram.
Caucasian Rugs were largely woven by the nomadic cultures from the Caucasus region in the mid to late 19th century using long haired wool sheared from the sheep they raised. The hand spun wools were hand dyed with vegetal and mineral based dyes, and the hand knotted area rugs have fascinating beautiful designs. The geometric and sometimes floral designs were produced on small looms and were unique to each weaver. These rugs were utilized for all aspects of tribal living. They came to be popular in Europe in the late 1880’s and have been prized possessions ever since. View our Antique tribal Caucasian rugs such as Kazak, Shirvan carpets, Karabaugh, old Kuba, Talish, and Akstava rugs.
East Turkestan or Chinese Turkistan situated along the ancient Silk Road borders China and Mongolia to the east, Russia to the north, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India to the west, and Tibet to the south. The Largest cities today are Ürümqi, Kashgar, Khotan, Ghulja, and the current Ethnic groups include Uyghur, Han Chinese, Kazakh; and Hui. East Turkistan has been a commerce center for 2000 years and is well known for the rugs woven there. Our particular collection will include all the good condition Khotan rugs that we find as these have bold interesting designs of well-drawn tableaus that delight modern interior designers. Types will include Antique Khotan, Khirgez, Suzanni, home decor from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
Antique rugs made in Mongolia from 1880’s to 1930’s are very rare and collectible old carpets. Mongolia, located between Russia and China is largely situated on mountains and plateaus and produced beautiful wool. The Mongols were influenced by Persian designs as well as the Chinese designs as seen in their hand woven area rugs.
By Ethel Mairet who was a British hand loom weaver, significant in the development of the craft during the first half of the twentieth century. Wikipedia
This book was Published in 1917 and Digitized on August 30, 2012 . This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible.
A description of the Wool used in the Construction of Antique Rugs
Most handmade antique rugs are created on a large wooden loom with a foundation of warp (north and south) and weft (east and west) threads often of cotton through which wool threads are knotted to create the pile of the rug. The wool sheared from sheep is spun and soaked in natural dyes made largely from insects, plants and water. The color concentration could vary slightly between dye lots which would sometimes result in a bit of a color change or abrash in a rug. This is normal.
There are many ways to distinguish where a rug was woven. One way is to identify the wool characteristics and how fine the yarn is which will also impact the type of foundation material used. The thicker wool from a rug woven near a mountain region would have a denser pile and a simpler perhaps geometric design. These rugs such as Bidjar rugs are woven on a stronger wool foundation.
Rugs woven nearer the cities may have a more finely spun wool which will allow for more complex designs such as vines and flowers or complex scenes often including bucolic or energetic scenes with animals and people such as is seen in Laver Kerman Rugs.
Beautifully spun very soft wool was also imported from Manchester, England. It is sheared from Merino sheep. These are some of the finest rugs made with the nicest, very finely spun soft wool. This wool was often used for fine Kashan rugs with beautiful fine intricate designs. These rugs are very soft underfoot. The Chinese were also known to import this wool and create beautiful designs.
The most expensive of all wool actually comes from a goat. This wool is known as mohair or angora. The pile rugs made using this rug mostly come from Turkey and have long silky feeling pile. It is very lustrous and dyed in pale beautiful colors and often found in Turkish Oushak rugs.
The last natural material used to weave rugs is from the camel. This is hair shed from a camel and is often used undyed and spun with sheeps wool to create a rug with a beautiful brown hue from a material that is readily available without shearing. This wool is often seen in rugs and runners from Serab and Hamadan regions of Persia.
I am most happy and privileged to have recently acquired a new rug to add to our collection. This piece was handmade not in wool, silk or cotton but in glass! The illustrious mosaic artist Suzanne Spahi is the creator. Suzanne recently moved to Italy from Canada for work, love and study. She taught the art of mosaic creation in her Montreal studio and has traveled the world to view and learn from the great mosaic artists through the ages. Her love of the patterns and iconography found in tribal Oriental rug designs captured her imagination and she has a series of Oriental rug mosaics that are intricate and beautiful. These sparkling rugs have been around the world on exhibition. I am so glad that one has found its way to us!
The Baluch rugs we sell are from the 19th century and found their way into the marketplace in Peshawar, Pakistan.
All these rugs were hand woven by Nomadic tribes of Baluchistan. They would hand spin their lustrous thick wools from sheep, camel and goat and dye them using primarily the vegetal or mineral dyes available to them. These rugs would take months to weave and were used to carry grain, as saddlebags for donkeys, as trapping for their animals and wall hangings for their tents. They are very well constructed and mostly one of a kind in pattern. Often new techniques and designs would be tried out in these small pieces. Each is a beautiful work of art in itself!
I have seen these rugs and bags put to interesting tasks in modern homes. Saddlebags make a great set of matching throw pillows when cut in half and stuffed. Many still have the tabs and loops for closure. They also make a nice chairback when slipped over a ladderback or bistroback chair. A single bag makes a nice dust cover to slip your laptop in when not in use. Trappings make a great decorative valance for a window or doorway. They also look great hung on the wall. Small rugs do double duty as a table or dresser runner
These are all collectible examples of nomad art. Each piece utilizes the design skills and showcases the individuality of each weaver. Each rug is hand-woven using beautiful vegetable dyed Baluchi wools. Because of the small size of these pieces different weaving techniques and design elements are used which are rarely found in the larger rugs of this region. These pieces were woven with utility in mind. We see saddlebags, animal trappings, tent trappings, and small rugs, all woven to be used and embellish the daily lives of these nomads. In our homes of today these small pieces also have many uses. They make beautiful floor or bench pillows, sofa pillows, wall hangings.
I’d be interested in hearing from you if you have any other great uses for these small pieces that I can share on this site!
Holly and Robert Mosby have been traveling the world for years in search of antique rugs to add to our collection. We have visited many cities in 44 countries. We look for old rugs to study or to buy. It has been an interesting journey. We hope you enjoy seeing the rugs we’ve collected as much as we have appreciated the travel to acquire them. In this day of commercial goods with no historic or handmade quality, it is nice to look to the past and surround ourselves with beauty conceived and woven by previous generations. The remarkable people we have met along our way have inspired us with their cultures and broadened our views. Thank you for visiting our website!
Donegal Carpets was founded in 1898 by Scottish textile manufacturer Alexander Morton in Killybegs , a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland. Morton put to practice the techniques of the Donegal people who had been working with wool for generations. These carpets, known as Donegals, are hand-knotted in the Turkish style. Killybegs became famous for its tapestries and carpets, some of which were produced on the biggest carpet loom in the world at the “Donegal Carpet Factory”. Donegal carpets can be found in Buckingham Palace, on the Cunard Oceanliners the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth and in government offices in Washington, D.C. The Mortons sold the company to a consortium called Donegal Carpets Ltd. in 1957. There were four manufacturing houses at one time in County Donegal but three of the four facilities closed during The Great Depression and in 1987 the last facility closed. Local Donegal people petitioned the government to help re-open them and in 1999 they were making carpets again. Here is a link to a company that produces new Donegal carpets today. https://www.discoverkillybegs.com/post/killybegs-a-centre-of-maritime-and-carpet-making
Here I am adjusting our ceiling mounted camera lens to take a wide frame image of a 9 foot by 12 foot rug. Down below is Robert using the computer software to shoot the photo. The adjustment is so sensitive that a slight mishandling of the camera on the mount will cause the room to skew and the rug to look like it’s not straight. This ladder is 17′ tall and I hate heights! So if our images aren’t perfect, now you know why!!
This type of rug is well described in this article published in 1915. I attach the image of a rug currently owned by Mosby Antique Rug . As you can see, the difference between the rug in the article and ours is the size and its condition. This is a very rare rug to find.
Life-Size Animals Emerge from Persian Rugs in Perception-Defying Sculptures by Debbie Lawson This is SO cool that I had to share it with my customers. Reprinted from the Art website COLOSSAL British sculptor Debbie Lawson works in the space between two and three dimensions, forming wild animals that emerge from old-fashioned rugs. The artist builds her animals from scratch, using chicken wire and masking tape, and then covers them with identical or near-identical Persian carpets to create the illusion that the creature is fused with the hanging rug.
Lawson explains to Colossal, “I have always ‘accidentally’ spotted images in patterns, on textured walls and floors made of wood or lino – any material really. It’s an obsession that I decided to explore in the studio, using first wood grain and then carpet to make work in which the pattern morphed into an actual image or form…More recently I have focussed on animal forms to explore the idea of camouflage, and of its opposite: display.”
Red Bear is on display until August 19 2018 at the Royal Academy of Arts in London as part of the 250th Summer Exhibition curated by Grayson Perry. Persian bear is permanently displayed (along with a moose in the same style) at London’s Town Hall Hotel. You can see more of Lawson’s finished works and take peeks into her studio process on Instagram.
A fabulous exploration of modern life in Kazakhstan as seen through the lens of photojournalist Wayne Eastep. Engaging copy and stunning photographs give you insight as to what life is like on the steppes and cities of Kazakhstan today.
The Pazyryk (Russian: Пазырык) burials are a number of ScythianIron Age tombs found in the Pazyryk Valley of the Ukok plateau in the Altai Mountains, Siberia, south of the modern city of Novosibirsk, Russia; the site is close to the borders with China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.Numerous comparable burials have been found in neighboring western Mongolia.
The tombs are Scythian-type kurgans, barrow-like tomb mounds containing wooden chambers covered over by large cairns of boulders and stones, dated to the 4th - 3rd centuries BCE.[5] The spectacular burials at Pazyryk are responsible for the introduction of the term kurgan, a Russian word of Turkic origin, into general usage to describe these tombs. The region of the Pazyryk kurgans is considered the type site of the wider Pazyryk culture. The site is included in the Golden Mountains of Altai UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The bearers of the Pazyryk culture were horse-riding pastoral nomads of the steppe, and some may have accumulated great wealth through horse trading with merchants in Persia, India and China. This wealth is evident in the wide array of finds from the Pazyryk tombs, which include many rare examples of organic objects such as felt hangings, Chinese silk, the earliest known pile carpet, horses decked out in elaborate trappings, and wooden furniture and other household goods. These finds were preserved when water seeped into the tombs in antiquity and froze, encasing the burial goods in ice, which remained frozen in the permafrost until the time of their excavation.
Because of a freak climatic freeze, some of the Altaic burials, notably those of the 5th century BCE at Pazyryk and neighbouring sites, such as Katanda, Shibe, and Tuekt, were isolated from external climatic variations by a protective layer of ice that conserved the organic substances buried in them. Certain geometric designs and sun symbols, such as the circle and rosette, recur at Pazyryk but are completely outnumbered by animal motifs. Such specifically Scythian features as zoomorphic junctures—i.e., the addition of a part of one animal to the body of another—are rarer in the Altaic region than in southern Russia. The stag and its relatives, however, figure as prominently in Altaic as in Scythian art.
Article previously published on Jozan.net oriental rug news, articles, directory and e-gallery
by Dr. Elmira Gyul
Suzanis, the large-scale decorative handmade wall panels, are some of the most popular kind of Uzbeks and Tajiks embroideries. They hold a very special place in traditional Central Asian culture. Such kind of embroideries along with carpets decorate the living rooms of Central Asian inhabitants.
Admirers of traditional textiles value Suzanis for their vigorous coloring and original patterns, natural materials and refinement of embroidery skills.
Meanwhile, their true sense are often hidden from us. The important role of Suzanis are connected with the belief to the magic forces of their patterns.
Scholars have already marked the common protective value of suzani embroideries, such as their usage in ceremonial and cult practice as protective force. The patterns within the embroideries also carry the same protective meaning, as well as having their own unique historical interpretations. Each element is a part of the Universe, and the composition is a image of the World, with harmony and balance, sometimes unachievable in real life.
Suzanis of each regions or center have their own local features. Astral and solar symbols predominate in Tashkent and partly in Samarkand Suzanis. In Tashkent Suzanis are known as palak (heavens, arab.), oy-palak (moon heavens) or yulduz-palak (star heavens).
The images of heavenly stars are the ancient tradition, which roots go to the ancient strata of culture. The artisans considered these patterns provided the heaven protection. Step-by-step old cults were replaced by the new ones – as a result, astral symbols transformed into vegetative and floral symbols (Surkhandarya and Samarkand Suzanis, for example). Transformation of solar forms into vegetative symbols reflects the change of religious representations in a society and depreciation of old symbols.
Samarkand Suzani 19th century
Vegetative motives in Suzanis are a reflection of the everlasting nature. The content is connected with the ancient cult of fertility, which has preserved by centuries for example in Ferghana Valley Suzanis.
Some patterns are the results of the influence of creativity by professional artists, who worked in the courts of Muslim rulers and produced the so called court carpets. They created compositions with palmettes, flanked by leafs, blossoming flowers, rows of bunches of flowers etc.; these magnificent flowers were symbols of a Muslim paradise garden. Some Bukhara, Nurata and Shahrisabz Suzanis are a free imitation of popular carpet drawings (gul-buta, gul-dasta, chorshoh-u yakmoch – four branches and one moon – compositions).
Tashkent Suzani, first half 19th century
Some motives, especially in rural embroideries, are related to nomad’s art. Carpets of semi nomadic tribes are the basic source of this influence. The “carpet” motives include kuchkorak and mujiz-nuska (ram’s horns) motives, the most ancient and most widespread in steppe art. Thereby, some part of patterns is a heritage of local ancient settled and nomadic cultures; the content of these patterns have been connected with Zoroastrism, Sun and totemic cults, and also a cult of nature revival. The other part was formed under the influence of Islamic aesthetics (some floral compositions, which can also be seen in other kinds of medieval textiles).
Suzani market
The meanings of former solar, Zoroastrian and totemic symbols have been forgotten. Instead craftswomen have considered these patterns simply “useful” and protective. As a result, many names of motives don’t reflect their original sense.
Young Uzbek embroideress
Nevertheless in each case Suzani drawings is the image of an ideal universe, unity of magic and beauty. Suzani embroidery is the unique phenomenon of late medieval culture of Central Asian’s cities and villages; it has kept the ancient archetypes and medieval symbols in the patterns and has reflected interaction of various historical and art traditions.
Dr. Elmira Gyul, Fine Arts Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan
A Comprehensive Study of Saddle rugs from Ningxia, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet from the 5th Century BC with 288 Full Color Plates in English And Chinese!
A ‘Limited Edition Copy signed by the Author’ of this 2 volume set is available through this link to the authors website.
We actually have a few on hand in the US for immediate shipping if you contact us!
WASHINGTON, May 30, 2008 — One of the most elegant times in America was the Jazz Age of the 1920s and 30s.
It was a time when, after the horrors of World War I, there was a taste for extravagant clothes and debonair film stars. Long silk gowns, men in ‘smoking’ attire and, on living room and bedroom floors, not antique Turkish and Persian carpets but – surprisingly – newly made Chinese ones.
Why Chinese? The answer is the strange story of the ‘Chinese Art Deco’ rugs. They were carpets that perfectly fit the spirit of their time and today still evoke that time and no other. But they came about almost by accident.
One of those accidents was the fact that World War I badly disrupted the usual Mideastern trade links for luxury carpets from Turkey and Iran. Another was that people wanted a break from the past in the design of virtually everything, from buildings to furniture to fabrics.
These opportunities were recognized by American entrepreneurs working in Tianjin, China. The port city, south of Beijing, was a major center in the international wool trade and until the 1900s had no history of rug manufacturing. But the expatriate U.S. traders soon turned it into one of China’s biggest weaving areas as they filled the vacuum in the American market, first with traditional Chinese carpets and then with more and more Western-looking variations of the originals.
The most successful design that emerged was something that perfectly fit the Art Deco style of the day. The carpets so complimented what was going on in the West that they became known as Chinese Art Deco even though there was no Art Deco movement in China itself.
One American entrepreneur’s name in particular is associated with the rugs: Walter Nichols.
He produced so many of them in Tianjin that Chinese Art Deco rugs are also known generically as ‘Nichols’ rugs. But it has long been debated whether he and other American producers actually designed the carpets or whether the Chinese artists which they employed did so.
Elizabeth Bogen, one of the few rug scholars who has studied Tianjin rugs closely, believes it was the Chinese artists.
She finds her evidence in the fact that while the rugs were made for the American market – where Art Deco was characterized by industrial-looking, streamlined forms – great numbers of the Chinese weavings are effusively curvilinear and floral. And those curvilinear patterns seem much less inspired by what was happening in America than by the more naturalist-looking Art Deco tradition in France, half-a-world away.
So how to explain the contradiction in styles? Bogen observes that by the 1920s there were Chinese students who had studied art in many major art schools in Japan and Europe and were familiar with international trends.
In Paris, particularly, they found Western art was being heavily influenced by “Japonisme,” or a fascination with Japan’s styles. If these students later became artists for the Chinese Art Deco rugs, it might explain what Bogen calls the rugs’ “exuberant experimentation with Chinese, Japanese, and European design styles and pallets.”
Bogen made these suggestions in her article “What the Wool Trade Wrought,” which appeared in the September-October 2001 issue of Hali Magazine.
The design origins of the Chinese Art Deco rugs may never be fully known. But the whole story leads to some interesting speculation about how Eastern designs get modified for Western tastes and whether the results are in fact Eastern or Western creations.
Bogen argues that the Tianjin rugs were not just the result of an interplay of market forces but also of “contemporary currents in Western art – currents that in turn were heavily influenced by exposure to the arts of Japan and China.”
Put in other words, this is a reminder that the greatest tradition in art, even in the most traditional arts, is to freely borrow ideas across borders. To try to classify art – and particularly the contemporary art of any period – as belonging to one region or another is to miss the excitement of how art reflects a universal human experience as much as it does a local one.
Reprinted from TEA AND CARPETS Blogspot Talk, news and links about oriental carpets, carpet collecting and the wonderful world of east meets west
BEIJING, Dec. 18, 2010 – Like the other countries of the ancient Silk Roads, China has a rich carpet tradition.
But it is a younger heritage than those of Central and South Asia or the Middle East and very much unlike them.
Because the first pile carpets in China seem to have been woven only some 500 years ago – in the 15th century — it seems clear pile carpet weaving arrived to China from elsewhere.
The best guess is that the technique traveled up the Silk Road into northwestern China from neighboring East Turkestan.
Northwestern China was, and is, a vast steppe land peopled mostly by Turkic-Mongol peoples. At that time, these steppe lands, which today include Inner Mongolia, were outside the Great Wall protecting China proper.
So, the early carpets were not ethnically “Chinese” — in the sense of the Han Chinese who lived within the wall (outlined in red here).
But for reasons that still fascinate historians, they almost immediately became a medium for Chinese – not nomadic – art.
And it is that quality which makes Chinese carpets so unlike their more “oriental” relatives.
Carpet scholars Muray L. Eiland Jr. and Muray Eiland III write in their book Oriental Carpets (1998) that “although it is possible that the pile carpet is not indigenous to China and was introduced from Central Asia, its designs have become as classically Chinese as those of textiles of porcelain.
“The same floral forms, of lotus and chrysanthemum, appear repeatedly, while the same simple devices of frets and swastikas are common in the borders. There is a lavish style of mythical animals and scrolling vines and more styles of the repetition of simple geometric figures.”
That the carpets should become so classically Chinese is surprising because the steppe lands — which are a rich wool producing region — had a millennia-old tradition of felt carpet making with its own rich vocabulary of motifs.
But it may be that by the 15th century, the people of northwest China already were heavily influenced by the overwhelming culture of China proper.
It is likely, too, that in many of the main commercial centers for the rugs, such as Ningxia right beside the Great Wall, urban populations were already ethnically mixed.
The rugs woven in northwest China had several markets.
One market was the nomadic lands to the north, Mongolia and beyond, where the rugs were used to decorate yurts.
A second market was Chinese Muslims who needed substitutes for prayer rugs, which were not woven in China.
And the third and richest market – and the one which undoubtedly did the most to determine styles and designs — was temples and noble homes.
Ningxia rugs, for example, were used extensively in the monasteries of Tibet and northwest China. The temple carpets included Banner rugs, Hanging rugs, Curtain carpets and Pillar carpets.
The Pillar carpets were sometimes made in two halves to fit around a column. Picture here is a column carpet from the 1880s in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection.
Interestingly, special colors were reserved for special audiences. Yellow was reserved for royal use, such the court and temples, while red was for gift carpets exchanged between aristocrats.
But if these pile carpets are so distinctly Chinese in appearance, does it mean that the indigenous people of the northwest contributed no influence of their own?
Hans Bidder, a German diplomat and carpet historian who lived many years in China before his death in 1963, believes the felt carpet culture of the steppe lands had a great effect on how the pile woven carpets were decorated.
Bidder is particularly intrigued by the way the fields of Chinese carpets so often appear to be blank canvases upon which motifs – from animals to Taoist and Buddhist symbols – are placed in almost ‘applique’ fashion.
Often the motifs stand out so dramatically from the background that almost appear to have been inlaid into the field of the carpet the way motifs are rolled and pressed into the plain backgrounds of felt carpets.
The appearance is sometimes heightened by cutting the pile to put the motifs in even higher relief – a practice that remains very common in Chinese carpets today.
That preference for high relief makes a fascinating link not only to the art sensibilities of the nomadic felt makers but also to a period in China’s own history when – due to the Mongol conquests of the 13th century – felt carpets briefly and unexpectedly rose to the level of a court art in Beijing.
Bidder writes that “during the period of Mongol Chinese rule (1260 to 1341) the felt carpet developed into a very luxurious object.”
He continues, “in the year 1299 felt carpets with an area of 331 square meters were manufactured for the ‘Palace of the Special Chambers’ (imperial harem) … felts became so refined and improved in quality that the artistry of felt carpets finally equaled that of the best Oriental carpets and sometimes exceeded it.” (Bidder, Carpets from Eastern Turkestan, published 1964.)
It is interesting to speculate on how much this experience may have helped set the subsequent taste for bold, high-relief motifs on knotted rugs. But the impact of Mongol rule on Chinese rugs may have been still larger than that.
Bidder notes that ancient China – the Han peoples within the Great Wall – traditionally associated wool with the barbarian world. Their fabrics of choice were cotton and silk, instead.
It was only through centuries of contact with nomads on the northern border that Chinese slowly began to adopt the use of felt mats as utilitarian floor coverings or insulation padding on beds. The example of the Mongol court would have done much to convince Chinese to regard wool as an artistic medium, as well.
Still, when weaving looms for carpets arrived in China, many people still regarded them as something alien.
Bidder, a scholar of Chinese texts, cites the earliest known mention of the technology as noting the “weaving process has been taken over from the barbarians and is performed in their strange way.” The book was written sometime in the Ming period of the 14th to 17th centuries.
But if wool carpet weaving took hold relatively late in China, it rapidly developed into a major industry.
The most active centers in the northwest – the ones most early carpets are named after – became the provinces of Kansu, Ningxia, and Suiyan (a now defunct province located in today’s Inner Mongolia), as well as another part of Inner Mongolia near the city of Baotou (or Paotou)
These centers thrived in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, setting the stage for the phenomenal growth of the Chinese export carpet industry when China opened to the world and major new weaving centers appeared in Peking and its nearby port Tiantsin.
From historical records, it appears wool looms appeared in Beijing in the early 1860s. There carpet-maker developed new patterns based on Ningxia carpet designs but which progressively responded to Western market demands.
Like the earlier Chinese carpets, the new Peking rugs depicted Chinese symbols and designs used for hundreds of years.
But where the symbols tended to be profuse and cluttered together on domestic rugs, the new rugs spaced them out — usually around a central medallion — in harmonious designs more suited to western tastes.
Blue Peking rugs made in Western room sizes gained huge popularity, particularly in America. They were followed by other rugs directly produced for the American market, often by companies owned by American expatriates in China.
The most famous of these “American” exports were the Chinese Art Deco rugs of the 1920s and 1930s.
The term Art Deco refers to the style launched at the 1925 Paris World's Fair Exhibition of Modern and Industrial Decorative Art.
Art Deco rugs introduced a new, nonrestrictive color palette. Bright, never-before-used combinations were the new trend. The soft blue of traditional Chinese rugs was replaced by a more vibrant lapis blue, while the traditional calm gold gave way to varying shades of ochre, green, raspberry, plum, purple and teal also became popular.
Because of its low production costs, China became the hub for weaving Art Deco rugs exported to the States. There were hundreds of factories producing rugs but it was two enterprising Americans who dominated: Helen Fette and Walter Nichols. Little did they know their names would become synonymous with the term and virtually all rugs woven during that era, which ran from the mid 1920's to around 1935.
Helen Fette went to China as a missionary, selling small rugs to raise funds for charities. She teamed up with Chinese rug manufacturer Li Meng Shu to form the Fette-Li Company. They started producing rugs out of the Peking area in the early 1920's and were one of the largest exporters of the period. Fette rugs are recognizable by their floppy feel. The cotton warps are thinner and more pliable than those used in Nichols carpets, resulting in a soft, supple feel to the pile.
In 1924 Walter Nichols opened the doors of his venture, Nichols Super Yarn and Carpets in Tientsin, North China. Super Yarn because of the machine spun yarn, the strong cotton used for the foundation, and the overall tightly packed weave of the rugs. In stark contrast to his Fette counterpart, a Nichols rug was quite dense and heavy.
Both Fette and Nichols placed identifying fabric tags on the back of their rugs. Nichols also stamped his name onto the backside of the fringe, however if the fringe has worn down or been repaired, the mark is usually absent. Because Fette and Nichols were so closely associated with the Deco period, rugs woven in their trademark style, absent any remaining identification marks, are routinely referred to as Fette or Nichols style.
No other Oriental rugs are as representative of their time as the Chinese Decos. The dynamics of the designs and the colors used are hallmarks of the era. It was a time of experimentation with abstract forms and unrestrained colors. The style arrived energetically, but was cut short due to the Great Depression. The few remaining factories were destroyed when Japan invaded China during World War II.
Antique Ningxia Rugs: Rare Imperial Chinese Carpets of Exceptional Beauty
What Are Antique Ningxia Rugs?
Antique Ningxia rugs are among the rarest antique Chinese carpets. Woven primarily during the Qing Dynasty for Imperial palaces, temples and wealthy officials, they are distinguished by exceptionally soft wool, elegant Chinese symbolism, natural dyes and refined artistic design. Their limited production and historical significance make them highly desirable among collectors today. Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs specializes in acquiring authentic antique Ningxia rugs for collectors who appreciate their beauty and historical significance.
Ningxia Chinese rugs have soft wools, low density of knots and heavy use of soft colors, especially yellow, and to some extent pinks. The motifs are in general use in other types of Chinese rugs but are rendered in a less constricted manner, ie. looser.
These rugs are in my opinion, and most others, the most beautiful and well designed of all the Chinese rugs. They embody a very soft feel and at times an almost dreamlike quality that is very difficult to put into words. This type of rug has to be experienced; words alone simply cannot do the task.
Where Were Antique Ningxia Rugs Woven?
Ningxia is a semi independent area in North Central China bounded by Inner Mongolia with the Yellow River running through it. It has been known for hundreds of years for its wool production.
The Ningxia weaving region lies in north-central China along the historic Yellow River. For centuries, the area served as an important crossroads of commerce along the Silk Road. Its location brought together Chinese artistic traditions with influences from Tibet, Mongolia, and Central Asia.
Carpet weaving flourished in Ningxia from approximately the 17th through the early 20th centuries, reaching its greatest artistic development during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912). Although weaving continued into the early Republican period, the finest examples were generally produced during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when craftsmanship reached its highest level.
Unlike many village rugs produced solely for local use, Ningxia carpets often served the Imperial Court, wealthy government officials, Buddhist monasteries, temples, and prosperous merchant families.
Common Symbols Found in Ningxia Rugs
Medallions symbolizing harmony and the universe
Dragons representing imperial authority and strength
Bats signifying happiness and good fortune
Cranes symbolizing longevity
Clouds representing heavenly blessings
Lotus blossoms expressing purity
Peonies symbolizing wealth and honor
Buddhist symbols reflecting spiritual devotion
Floral sprays and scrolling vines arranged with remarkable elegance
Antique Ningxia Rugs at Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs
For decades, Mosby Antique Oriental Rugs has specialized in acquiring museum-quality antique Oriental rugs including rare Ningxia carpets that exemplify the finest traditions of Imperial Chinese weaving. Each rug is personally evaluated for authenticity, age, craftsmanship, condition and artistic merit before becoming part of our collection. We view these remarkable carpets not simply as furnishings, but as surviving pieces of Chinese cultural history worthy of preservation for future generations.
This article is a reprint scanned in from a brochure published in the 1930's by the Nichols Chinese Rug Company
The Story of NICHOLS CHINESE RUGS
Foreword
This little brochure has been compiled with the object of presenting Chinese Rugs in general and Nichols Super Rugs in particular before prospective purchasers in a manner we believe will stimulate your interest and appreciation.
All experts agree that Chinese Super Rugs as made today represent the greatest intrinsic value in floor covering fabrics produced anywhere in the world.
Nichols Super Rugs combine that wonderful fabric with designs, colors and workmanship placing them in a class by themselves. We have illustrated the following pages as profusely as possible with actual photographs to help us achieve our objective.
Brief history
The art of making woven rugs and tapestries goes far back into the musty realms of antiquity. Chinese rugs may have originated from other countries such as Egypt and Persia but the first woven rugs were spoken of in Chinese annals so
long ago that Chinese carpets may well have antedated those of any country. The theories as to whether rug making originated in China or came from the Near East cannot be substantiated because records so far back in the dim past are confusing. The growth of rug weaving may even have been contemporaneous in the two parts of the world as a result of the intercourse maintained by early traders. The swastika which appears in so many Chinese designs is also found in Egyptian symbolism. It means good luck, abundance, happiness and prosperity. Some scholars believe this sign to have originated in China. Carpet weaving attained a high degree of artistic value in the Tigris,Euphrates Valley and though no Chinese designs are linked with the ruins of Ninevah, the Persian knot used in weaving most Chinese rugs may have come from there. At first carpets woven in China were used principally for saddle cloths and for the K'ang or brick couch of the North but with the advent of Buddhism they assumed greater artistic importance being used not only for prayer rugs for devotees to kneel upon but also for temple floor coverings and wall hangings. Until the Ch'ing dynasty carpets were made only in Northwest China and were brought into Peking as tribute to the Court. The modern industry was founded by a Llama priest who came to pay tribute to the Court bringing with him examples of the rug weavers art of Northwest China. The rugs were so popular at the Court that the priest set up a weaving school outside the East Gate of the city of Peking, and so taught the art of weaving to the people. It is from the teachings of this Llama priest that the modern Chinese rug has sprung.
In 1924 W. A. B. Nichols of Tientsin, North China, introduced the Super Chinese Rug which has become world famous. It is known in every market as the most durable and beautiful product of the modern Chinese weavers art and adorns the homes of people all over the earth.
Manufacturing
There are five major departments to be considered in the manufacture of a Super Rug, namely:
Materials (Wool, Woolen Yarn, warp and Weft)
Dyes and Dyeing
Color and Design
Weaving
Chemical Washing
To obtain perfect results all these things must be of the highest quality and coordinated under one management. A Nichols Super Rug is entirely a Nichols product. It is transformed from raw wool into a beautiful floor covering within the confines of our own factories and when we say our own factories we mean that we own the buildings, own the looms, own every tool and every rice bowl that is used in them. We do not "farm" out our yarn to be made into rugs by others - we do it all from beginning to end.
Factories
Visitors are always welcome to our plants so let us pretend that you have taken a trip halfway round the world and landed in Tientsin and dropped in to call upon us. We will take you on a tour of our factories and show you each phase of rug making separately in order that you may have a clearer understanding of just how it is all accomplished.
Materials
Wool, of course, is the largest component part of a rug, accounting for about 80% of its weight, therefore it is of the utmost importance to the fabric. All the wool that goes into a Nichols Rug is first carefully selected for length and strength of staple-only live resilient wool being considered suitable. Next it is thoroughly scoured with soap and warm water to remove dirt and foreign matter. This is very important because wool that has not been properly scoured will smell very sheepy for years after. Next the clean wool is sorted again and all the short pieces taken out, also the black and brown is eliminated and only pure white fleecy wool goes to the spinning mill. Here it is spun into a uniform woolen yarn by the Mule system of spinning and this white yarn in the grease goes to the dyer.
Dyeing
The dyeing department is one of the greatest importance. Only the best foreign dyes are used and these are applied to the yarn by the fastest known process for dyeing wool. The yarn must first be washed to remove the spinning oil otherwise it will not dye even and streaks show up in the carpets.
We have over eight hundred different colors and tones of colors in our collection and still are always developing new ones. Every one of these colors is guaranteed to be fast to light and washing.
Dyed in the Wool
All our indigo blues are dyed in the wool to insure uniform shades. We have twelve tones of indigo blue running from light to very dark.
This is China's national color and used a great deal in Chinese rugs and are to be found in most antique carpets.
Among the ancient traditional designs the dragon occupies the foremost position. It is symbolic of royalty and ranks first on all carpets, embroideries, bronzes, porcelains and palace buildings.
The eight immortal Genii of Taoism, believed to have been disciples of Lao-Tzu, have passed on their deified attributes as motifs for designs. The phoenix is also very important. As a messenger of the eight Genii it is the medium of intercourse between them and living beings. Its appearance heralds good times and happy events.
India has contributed most of all to the designs of Chinese rugs through Buddhism. The designs of Chinese carpets are all older than carpet weaving itself because they are derived from those used in silk weaving. These in turn have the same origin as the paintings found on old Chinese pottery. A wealth of designs which have been utilized for carpets are found in old manuscripts and on painted and carved walls of ancient temples. They have been closely related to the legends and the various religions of the Chinese people. Thanks to the tenacity with which the Chinese cling to all that is ancient we still find these old designs being woven lending to the Chinese carpets a very special charm not only on account of their great antiquity of design but also on account of their peculiarity and unique characteristics retained through centuries and making of each carpet a surviving evidence of an historical past.
The continuous development of carpet designs owes its loveliest inspirations to the trees and flowers of China. Natural flowers are always realistically reproduced and are seldom so conventionalized as the design on Persian carpets so that every species of flower is recognizable at sight. The peach blossom, symbol of the spring and the
blossom of the fruit of life; the lotus flower, emblem of the summer; the chrysanthemum, emblem of the autumn; the narcissus, emblem of the winter; the plum blossom; symbol of beauty; the orchid, valued for its fragrance; the bamboo, emblem of longevity and enduring bloom; the peony, flower of wealth and respectability. All these are the flowers which are used most often and to great advantage. Neoclassic designs are the very latest influence in Chinese rug styles taking as they do the old classic patterns and working them up in colors of today. Also bringing out the design by beveling all around it, producing a very beautiful molded effect.
Much has been said and written regarding the value and beauty of antique rugs but it is a recognized fact that people of good taste and refinement today prefer modern rugs and this choice comes from the fact that in modern rugs one can achieve a more artistic interior----one more suited to the individual and in perfect harmony with their surroundings. There is no rug that lends itself to this more than the Chinese. Too much cannot be said about the beauty and interpretation of Nichols designs, for into these rugs is woven the culture, beauty and heritage of China. The designs have been gleaned from old palace rugs, porcelains, pottery, temple decorations and bronzes, the old containing a mixture of the new thus modernizing the design and making the rug a thing of beauty for the western home. We maintain a staff of skilled artists who are always on the alert for something new and who combine the best elements of the Western and Chinese designs into a harmoniously blended whole.
We are also pleased to execute the ideas of our customers in weaving designs submitted by them or in working up designs to meet their individual requirements as to type or color. Having selected a design and color scheme and with the yarn all dyed accordingly, we now enter the weaving room. Assuming the carpet is to be made in the popular 9xI2 size we find the loom that has been allocated for this order and the four weavers who will weave the rug (one weaver usually works a section 2 1/2 feet wide).
These four weavers now start stringing the warp. This is done by carrying a strong cotton cord around the loom and back again, looping it over a steel or bamboo rod at the bottom, thereby making one continuous warp for the whole rug. The warp cord itself must be very strong and free from knots. Only the best knotless warp is used in Nichols Rugs.
After the warp has been strung the upper and lower beams of the loom are spread apart by a powerful jack and wedged in that position.
Next the paper loom drawing which is the actual size of the design to be made is placed behind the warp and weavers trace the pattern on the warp itself with red ink. (If this ink is not properly made and applied it often discolors light ugs when they are washed at some future date.)
The design having been transferred to the warp the weavers now start the rug by making a webbing of cotton about one inch wide at the bottom. This is not only to form part of the fringe but also to enable the yarn to be pounded down tight as the weaving progresses.
The weavers then start putting in a row of woolen yarn by twisting it around the two warp cords forming a figure eight, the outside loop of which is chopped off leaving the two ends sticking out, creating the pile of the rug. The warp cords are separated by a harness that goes around each one and is fastened to a stick that is behind the weaver's head. This he reaches up and pulls after every line of knots has been tied and thus crosses the warp cords and pinches the woolen yarn in between them.
A line of cotton weft threads is then inserted between the crossed warp cords above the woolen yarn and the warp is crossed again. These are all beaten down together with an iron fork. Another line of woolen knots are tied and the same operation is repeated over and over again. The weft threads are not carried all the way across the rug but are short lengths and taken from one weaver to another, overlapping where they meet by a few lengths of warp. Each weaver ties about 8,000 knots a day, completing about one square foot of the rug's surface. Each knot is chopped off when it is tied about 1/8 of an inch longer than the height of pile required and then this extra length is cut off with scissors. After a day's weaving has been finished the surface is trimmed up again with wider scissors until it is perfectly even.
A 9x12 rug is usually woven about four feet and then the loom beams are loosened and the whole warp is shifted down and around the back of the loom. The loom is tightened up again and weaving resumed. This operation is repeated until the rug is completed. Before the rug is shifted the design must be cut all around the edge to make it stand out from the background. This is a distinctive feature in Chinese rugs. No other Oriental rug has ever had this carved effect. When the rug is finished it is cut down from the loom and the weavers must spend a day or two fixing and trimming it up after which it is carefully examined by expert inspectors and if found satisfactory the weavers are paid for their work and start on another rug.
It takes four weavers about one month to weave a9x12 rug. Of course, the more intricate the design the longer it takes to weave. The weavers are paid extra for hard designs.
There are no carpet weavers in China superior to those employed by us. They are carefully selected and trained. They work in the cleanest and most modern factories in China where they are well fed and housed and where medical attention is always available. They come from the Northern provinceswhich have always been the home of the finest weavers. We employ no child labor or apprentices. Because of their ideal working conditions happier workmen cannot be found, and knot by knot their deft fingers create the most beautiful carpets in the market because it is the innermost desire of these weavers, influenced by tradition, folklore and superstition, to produce a product which cannot be surpassed.
"A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever," sang Keats, and this can truly be said of a Nichols Chinese Rug, for it creates joy in the heart of its owner and its beauty spreads sunshine wherever it may be. One can read the glory and culture of China's imperial past when studying the rare old designs of these rugs, for China in sign and symbol has been woven into them.
Chemical washing
This is a process that puts a silky sheen on the surface of the rug and makes it soft and pliable. It takes out of the rug all the surplus wool fibres that would otherwise come out in six months of sweeping and it polishes the tip of each individual wool tuft so that dirt and dust will not stick to them, making a washed rug much easier to keep clean than an unwashed rug. People often remark that they have been told the washing takes out half the life of a rug. This is not a fact. The washing process does reduce the height of the pile a small fraction of an inch but Nichols Rugs are made with a higher pile when they are woven to compensate for this loss. Here are some of the important points to remember when considering the relative merits of a washed rug and an unwashed rug. The chemical washing is a severe process-there is no doubt about that. It brings out all the latent defects in any rug. Therefore when you see a washed rug you see just what you are going to get for your money. You can feel it and judge for yourself the life that is left in it. You can see if it has faded.
If it has not faded in the washing it will never fade. It has been saturated with water two or three times, therefore it is washable and you can wash a Nichols Rug as many times as you'd like. It is disinfected by the chemicals and safe to be laid down in your home. It contains no uncertainties. On the other hand unwashed rugs of any kind contain all the uncertainties we have just mentioned and a lot more. Some of the Persian rugs, when they are washed, lose nearly all their color and have to be painted with dyes in the New York washing plants. It is a common practice to change the entire color scheme of there rugs to meet the current demand. No such thing can be done with Nichols Rugs. Their colors are FAST and are only softened and mellowed in the washing. Some people also say the sheen does not last. This is not true. If you could keep your rug in a glass case the sheen would last indefinitely, but dust and dirt dulls it and then a washing with soap-and water will restore to your rug the original beautiful lustre. We have proven this statement a thousand times by washing customers rugs purchased from us years before and they have never failed to turn out as lovely as the day they were bought. Experience has taught us that chemical washing is also a protection against moths. Washed rugs are not susceptible to the ravages of this insect nearly as much as unwashed rugs. We have actually had cases of our washed rugs in storage for over two years without any protective material such as napthalene and the rugs opened up in perfect condition. This is important when it is considered that many of our customers buy their rugs "in bond" and may be obliged to leave them packed for a much longer period than anticipated. We unhesitatingly recommend the chemical washing process and all Nichols Rugs are so treated unless we are specifically instructed to the contrary.
Care of Rugs
Because of the beautiful clean condition in which you find your Nichols Rug when it is delivered to you, its care is reduced many fold and the only necessary attention for many years is merely that of routine house cleaning which is done with either a broom or a vacuum cleaner. You do not need to be afraid to use even the strongest vacuum cleaner on a Nichols Rug. When the fringes are soiled they may be cleaned with dry cornmeal by brushing the cornmeal vigorously in and out of the fringe; if soiled sufficiently, scrub the fringe with soap and water.
Nichols rugs may be washed with soap and water or, if only the surface is soiled, use a small portion of alcohol or ammonia in tepid water and go over the rug with this mixture. Most stains can be removed with gasoline or soap and water. It is better to dry the rugs on a flat surface rather than hang them on a line. Of course, all large cities have rug cleaning establishments and we recommend any reliable firm of this kind for a thorough cleaning; they cannot damage a Nichols Rug in the ordinary course of any cleaning process. Our New York Office will be glad to give you advice on this subject if you consult them
In Peking we have converted the former palace of a Manchu Prince into a weaving establishment containing fifty looms. The Old Audience Hall, seventy.five feet long, serves as our rug showroom. The original living quarters of the Prince's familv now house our two hundred weavers. This "Palace Factory" is now one of the sights of the city and visited by thousands of tourists every year. Should you be fortunate enough to ever spend a few days in Peking you are cordially invited to come and go through this unique place from a purely sightseeing point of view. It is not necessary to buy a rug - just see them made in a Palace and you will agree they are "Fit for a King."
What Are Antique Ningxia Rugs?
