A layout in which a motif or pattern is spread across the whole field instead of being organized around a central medallion. The motif can be flowers joined by vines, leaves and blossoms (sometimes with birds and animals), angular geometric shapes, or repeating units such as boteh, gul and herati; a barely noticeable center may remain. A geometric allover either repeats one shape or runs as a continuous pattern whose shapes vary, often with a different ground color inside each. With no strong midpoint, an allover rug sits comfortably anywhere in a room, including odd-shaped ones; in floral versions the flowers are drawn larger, on thicker branches, than in a floral medallion rug.
Tribal rugs woven by the Baluch people of the border region between northeastern Iran and Afghanistan, who sell them in the bazaar of Mashhad because they have few buyers nearby. The designs blend Turkish, Persian, and Caucasian influences and stay closest to Turkmen weaving, which came first: repeating guls (flowers set in octagons), boteh, tree-of-life motifs, and prayer designs, mostly on dark navy, red, or brown fields with ivory and dark-purple accents, though newer pieces run lighter. The thin pile is wool, usually on a wool foundation. Because the weavers move around and cannot set up large looms, rugs are small, typically 4 x 6 ft (1.2 x 1.8 m), 5 x 7 ft (1.5 x 2.1 m) or smaller, and runners reach only about 10 to 12 ft (3 to 3.7 m) long and 1.5 to 5 ft (0.46 to 1.5 m) wide.
Rugs woven today chiefly in Pakistani workshops by Pakistani and Afghan weavers who rework older Persian-Turkmen designs rooted in Central Asia; in the trade they count as Oriental rather than Persian rugs. The hallmark is an allover repeat of guls, stylized octagonal (sometimes diamond-shaped) flower motifs, on a field most often red, then cream, sometimes blue or green, and more recently black, with black, peach, blue, and green accents, all in plant-based dyes. The pile is soft, silky-looking 100 percent wool on a cotton foundation, medium in height, and some pieces come oversized; a finer grade has higher knot density, more detailed drawing, and premium Ghazni wool.
The standard, entry-level grade of modern Kazak rug, also called regular Kazak and the one buyers see most often, woven by Afghan weavers in Pakistan. It has the lowest knot density of the three grades (commercial, Super Kazak and Kazak Azari), which suits its large, bold, mostly geometric patterns, and it comes in softened, subdued colors with a good choice of shades. It is generally the lowest-priced of the three.
Traditional carpets woven by the Esari tribe of Turkmenistan, characterized by their distinctive deep red background and geometric gul (medallion) patterns. These rugs typically feature a primary elephant foot gul design with secondary motifs arranged in orderly rows, and are known for their fine weave and rich cultural symbolism.
A style of rug drawing built from angular shapes such as hexagons, diamonds and squares, outlined by straight lines, in contrast to the flowing curves of floral designs. It goes back to some of the oldest Persian rugs, before floral designs, and is typical of village and tribal rugs (Heriz, Hamadan, Zanjan, Abadeh, Karaja, Qashqai, Kazak, Turkmen), though city workshops such as Tabriz also weave it. Many shapes carry symbolic meaning. It comes as an allover pattern, a single central medallion or repeating medallions, and geometric rugs are known for strong borders. Because the shapes need little fine detail, a low-to-medium knot density is enough, as in Heriz and Karaja rugs, and Heriz is still known for durability.
A layout in which one large angular medallion stands at the center of the field, with separate corner designs and a much lighter pattern over the remaining ground, so the medallion is the clear focal point. Smaller geometric medallions often sit above and below the main one. It is typical of village and tribal rugs such as Heriz, Abadeh, Zanjan, Karaja and Qashqai, and is the angular counterpart of the floral center medallion.
A type of Persian carpet from the Heriz district in northwestern Iran, specifically from the village of Gorevan. These rugs feature bold, geometric patterns with large central medallions and corner pieces in rich reds, blues, and ivory. Compared to standard Heriz rugs, Gorevans typically have a coarser weave, more angular designs, and a distinctive rustic character that makes them popular for traditional and transitional interiors.
An octagonal or polygonal, stylized flower motif repeated in rows across the field of Turkmen rugs. The same repeat is typical of Baluchi rugs, where a flower sits inside each octagon, and of Bokhara rugs, woven chiefly in Pakistan after Turkmen models. In older Turkmen rugs each tribe (Tekke, Salor, Ersari and others) typically kept its own gul, so an expert can often tell the tribe from the motif, whereas modern pieces mix guls freely. The word means “flower” or “rose” in Persian, though the shapes are highly geometric rather than naturalistic.
A rug construction in which the weaver ties each knot of wool or silk pile yarn by hand around adjacent warp threads on a loom, then runs a weft through the row and beats it down. The cut knot ends form the pile, the warps and wefts form the foundation, and the warp ends become the fringe. A rug can take months or even years, and the work leaves subtle irregularities: patterns not perfectly symmetrical, opposite edges a few inches different in length, an uneven fringe. Authentic Persian, Oriental and Turkish rugs are hand-knotted, unlike hand-tufted rugs (sometimes sold as “handmade”) and machine-made ones, whose backs feel stiff and evenly aligned.
Bold village rugs from the Heriz area of northwestern Iran, near Tabriz, and the best-known of all Persian village rugs. A coarse, tough wool pile on a cotton foundation, usually double-wefted for extra thickness, and a low-to-medium knot density (commonly quoted at about 120 to 170 KPSI, roughly 1,900 to 2,600 per 10 by 10 cm) make them very durable; the wool's strength is traditionally credited to copper-bearing mountain water. The classic design is a large angular medallion with four corner pieces, sometimes an allover layout, in a rust red traditionally credited to copper minerals in the local river, with dark navy and cream. Bakshaish and Serapi, the latter now over a century old, are their older forms.
A budget shortcut in hand-knotting in which each knot is looped around four warp threads instead of the two spanned by the symmetrical (Turkish) and asymmetrical (Persian) knots. It speeds up weaving but gives a much looser, sparser weave: a jufti rug can weigh about half as much as a regular-knotted rug of the same size, and its patterns look fuzzy, pixelated and less detailed, usually plain with open space. It is hard to spot from the back, so weight and pattern clarity are the best clues; the rugs wear less well and are cheaper. It turns up, for example, in lower-grade Kerman pieces.
Trade name among rug specialists for the finer grade of Khal Mohammadi, the Afghan rugs known for deep, natural-dyed reds. Colors and design match the regular grade, but the higher knot density gives a sharper, more detailed drawing, so the difference shows in the crispness of the pattern rather than in its overall look.
A rug produced by industrial machinery, typically on power looms, rather than knotted by hand, usually from synthetic fibers such as polyester, polypropylene or nylon, and finished in hours rather than months. Its design looks perfectly symmetrical yet slightly fuzzy, and its edges measure almost exactly alike. The back feels stiff and plastic-like, with a regular honeycomb texture on which the pattern cannot be read. Any fringe is a uniform synthetic trim attached at the end of production, and some rugs have none, unlike a hand-knotted rug, whose fringe is its own foundation threads. Machine-made rugs are less expensive, of lower quality and wear out sooner, and are not authentic Persian or Oriental rugs.
A rectangular woven box-bag — nomadic luggage — used by tribes of Persia and the Caucasus to store and transport bedding on migration. Woven flat in kilim, soumak, or mixed techniques and then assembled, mafrash panels display some of the boldest tribal design work, and many antique examples have been opened up and repurposed as striking flatweave rugs or cushions.
A stylized fan- or palm-leaf-shaped flower motif whose petals or leaves spread from a single base. It is repeated in the fields and borders of city rugs such as Kashan and Tabriz, usually alongside arabesque scrolls, rosettes, and floral sprays. In Sultanabad rugs the palmettes are drawn oversized and set among angular vine scrolls in an allover pattern.
The flattening of pile fibers under sustained weight, as in a high-traffic path or beneath heavy furniture, which leaves the pile looking worn. In storage the same happens when heavy items are stacked on a rug for long periods. A rug pad and padded coasters under furniture legs spread the load, and rotating the rug about once a year shifts where the weight falls; a medium to high pile and a dense weave withstand heavy beds and dining tables best, and regular vacuuming and professional cleaning keep the pile in shape.
Antique Persian carpets from Sultanabad, the former name of the Arak region of Iran, a newer weaving center that flourished under the Qajars in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and supplied European and American buyers. Their typical layout is an allover field of oversized palmettes, lotus blossoms, floral sprays and angular vines, recalling the Shah Abbasi pattern in a rustic village manner rather than the precise curvilinear drawing of city rugs. Indigo or midnight blue with rust or brick red, gold and olive is a classic palette. Because Sultanabad no longer exists under that name, antique examples are scarce and command higher prices.
Rugs from Tabriz, the large northwestern Iranian city and former Safavid capital, and its surrounding villages, where weaving is traced back at least to the 1500s. Weavers use the Turkish knot and small metal hooks, which give very regular, symmetrical patterns, usually on a cotton foundation (silk for the finest pieces), often double-wefted, with a short-clipped to medium pile. Densities run from about 50 to 500 knots per square inch (roughly 8 to 78 per cm²), silk-foundation pieces can exceed 600, and silk highlights lend vibrancy to floral designs. Some workshops weave only silk-and-wool rugs, favoring pastels. Tabriz offers the widest range of designs and colors of any Persian source: medallion, floral, Herati, hunting and vase patterns, plus most pictorial portraits. A rug sold as “Tabriz-style” is not necessarily woven in Tabriz.
Tribal rugs woven by Turkoman (Turkmen) nomads, whose forebears came from the Afghan and Uzbek region and who later settled in the Turkmen region of Iran. Rows of octagonal guls (“flowers”) cover a deep red, reddish-brown or occasionally cream field, accented in black, blue, green or beige; prayer designs also occur. Foundation and pile are usually wool, said to come from the soft undercoat of Karakul sheep, though a cotton foundation is occasionally used. In older pieces each tribe kept its own gul design, whereas newer rugs freely mix them. Turkoman designs inspired Bokhara and Khal Mohammadi rugs and are the Persian design closest to Baluchi work, which they predate; the low-to-medium pile suits places where doors swing over the rug.