Wool yarn spun from cleaned, carded fleece by hand or on a manual wheel rather than by machine, after which the spun threads are twisted together into thicker, stronger strands before dyeing. It gives finer, softer threads than machine spinning, so the wool feels softer and looks shinier, and hand spinning is said to preserve the wool's natural lanolin. It is usual in Kazak and Peshawar rugs woven in Pakistan and in Afghan Khal Mohammadi rugs, all of which are also colored with natural dyes.
Rugs of Afghan origin and design, named, unusually, after a person rather than a place: according to trade legend, a master rug maker and dyer who stayed in northern Afghanistan during the Russian invasion and began producing them there. They are known for deep, naturally dyed reds and blues with orange, black and rust accents, and for geometric layouts with fine floral details inspired by Bokhara and Turkoman designs; slight shade variation is normal in natural dye. The pile is 100 percent wool from mountain sheep whose fatty wool has a soft sheen, on a cotton foundation, at a medium height. Some are classed as Pakistan-made. A finer, denser grade, often labeled Belgique, draws the same design more sharply.
A hand-knotted rug from the weaving lands of Asia and the Middle East, usually named for the city or region it comes from and known for intricate designs. In the trade pairing “Persian and Oriental,” Persian means made in Iran and Oriental covers the other origins, such as Turkey, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and China, for example Pakistan-made Kazak, Oushak-design and Bokhara rugs or Afghan Khal Mohammadi rugs; used broadly, the word also takes in Persian rugs. Look-alikes from Pakistan, India or China are not Persian. Only hand-knotted rugs are authentic; hand-tufted rugs, which are sometimes sold as “handmade,” and machine-made rugs rank below. A rug’s country and city of origin tell a buyer what to expect of its typical colors and quality.
Hand-knotted rugs woven in Pakistan, often by Afghan weavers, that reproduce Persian, Turkish, Turkoman and Caucasian designs; the best-known families are Kazak, Oushak, Peshawar (Chobi) and Bokhara, and Afghan-style Khal Mohammadi rugs are sometimes grouped with them. Compared with Iranian rugs they usually have softer, more muted colors that designers choose to suit modern interiors, a low-to-medium pile from antique-style washing and short cutting, and a wide choice of large sizes. Kazak production is credited to Afghan weavers in Pakistani workshops from the 1980s and 1990s, Oushak-style production to workshop owners who moved from Iran to Pakistan in the 1970s after an embargo on Iran. Because they are not woven in Iran, they are not Persian rugs.
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.