A small framed box woven into a rug to hold the name of the master weaver or workshop, often together with the city. It is one of the two usual ways in which Persian city workshops sign a rug; the other is weaving the name directly into the border stripes.
The name of a weaver or workshop woven into a rug, either in a small framed box (a cartouche) or directly into the border stripes. It works as a maker's mark that ties the rug to the standards of that workshop, and signed pieces from famous workshops are sought by collectors. Not every workshop rug is signed, and a workshop can stop using its signature. Isfahan rugs and newer Qum rugs usually carry one, while Nain rugs and silk-foundation Yomut Turkoman rugs seldom do.