Rugs woven today chiefly in Pakistani workshops by Pakistani and Afghan weavers who rework older Persian-Turkmen designs rooted in Central Asia. The hallmark is an allover repeat of guls, octagonal or diamond-shaped motifs, on a field most often red, then cream, and more recently blue, green, or black, with black, peach, blue, and green accents, all in plant-based dyes. The pile is soft, silky-looking wool on a cotton foundation, medium in height, with some oversized formats; a finer grade has higher knot density, more detailed drawing, and premium Ghazni wool.
An octagonal or polygonal, stylized flower motif repeated in rows across the field of Turkmen rugs, and also seen in Baluchi rugs and the Bokhara design. In older Turkmen rugs each tribe (Tekke, Salor, Ersari and others) typically kept its own gul, so an expert can read a rug's 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.
Afghan rugs named, unusually, after a person rather than a place: according to trade legend, a master rug maker and dyer who wove in northern Afghanistan. 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 Turkmen designs. The pile is 100 percent wool from sheep of the high Afghan mountains, on a cotton foundation, at a medium height. A finer, denser grade, often labeled Belgique, draws the same design more sharply.
Hand-knotted rugs from the weaving lands of Asia and the Middle East, including Iran (Persia), Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and China, usually named for the city, region, or maker they come from and known for intricate designs and high knot counts. In the trade pairing "Persian and Oriental," Persian means made in Iran and Oriental covers the other origins, such as Pakistan-made Kazak, Oushak-design, and Bokhara rugs or Afghan Khal Mohammadi rugs; look-alikes from Pakistan, India, or China are not Persian. Only hand-knotted rugs are authentic, unlike hand-tufted or machine-made ones, which are sometimes sold as "handmade."
Hand-knotted rugs woven in Pakistan, often by Afghan weavers, that reproduce Persian, Turkish, Turkmen and Caucasian designs; the best-known families are Kazak, Oushak, Peshawar (Chobi) and Bokhara. Compared with Iranian rugs they usually have softer, more muted colors chosen 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 Iranian workshop owners who relocated in the 1970s. Because they are not woven in Iran, they are not Persian rugs.
Tribal rugs woven by 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; the foundation and pile are usually wool. In older pieces each tribe kept its own gul design, whereas newer rugs freely mix them. Turkmen designs inspired Bokhara and Khal Mohammadi rugs and are the Persian design closest to Baluchi work, and the low-to-medium pile suits places where doors swing over the rug.