Village rugs from the town of Abadeh, which sits between Shiraz and Isfahan in Iran, recognized by hexagon shapes in the medallion, corners and field, usually with a small rosette at the center of the medallion, and by animal and plant motifs. The woolpile is typically on a cotton foundation; accounts of its height disagree, ranging from thin and closely clipped to fairly high. The knot count is high for a village rug, which the detailed motifs require; some sources give about 225 knots per square inch (roughly 350,000 per m²), though published figures vary widely. Fields are usually dark navy or deep red with cream, yellow, orange, blue and green accents. The town has no rug market of its own, so its finished rugs are sold in the Shiraz bazaar.
An all-over floral composition in which sprays of flowers, rosettes and leafy branches, often arranged in symmetrical pairs, are spread across the field, typically without a central medallion to hold the eye. The Persian word afshan means “scattered” or “sprinkled”. The open, airy layout can be seen, for example, on the pale ivory ground of some Sarouk rugs.
Rugs woven in the Caucasus, the mountain region between the Black and Caspian seas, whose southern part lies in modern Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan; Kazak rugs were first made there in the 1800s. The label is used for the region's geometric, tribal-looking weaving, best known from Kazak rugs with large medallions, rosettes and tribal symbols, and it often describes designs that weavers elsewhere echo, as in some Quchan, Mehraban and Bijar rugs. Today's Kazak rugs from Pakistan revive this tradition.
One of the three principal design families of Persian rugs, alongside geometric and Herati: patterns of flowers, leaves and vines drawn in flowing curves. It dominates city and workshop rugs such as Tabriz, Kashan, Kerman, Sarouk, Nain and Isfahan, where high knot density allows fine detail, and it typically draws on forms such as the Shah Abbasi design and rosettes. Floral motifs, though known to weavers earlier, are said to have become common in Persian rugs from the 16th century. Floral rugs come in two layouts: with a central medallion, where flowers and branches are smaller, or allover, with larger flowers.
A geometric drawing built around six-sided shapes, best known as the hallmark of Abadeh rugs, where a large hexagon spreads over the field, often with smaller ones toward a central rosettemedallion. Abadeh weavers developed it to make their rugs stand out from other rugs of the region. Hexagonal or diamond-shaped medallions are also typical of Hamadan and Malayer rugs, and older Zanjan rugs set a hexagonal medallion around the center medallion as a frame.
The widest band framing the field of a rug, usually flanked by one or more much thinner guard borders. Its color normally differs from the field, and its ornament, such as floral vines, vases, rosettes or geometric repeats, runs around all four sides. In city rugs the pattern is expected to turn cleanly at the corners, whereas tribal rugs are less likely to keep it continuous. Under a dining table mostly the border stays visible, so its color and design deserve extra attention when choosing a rug.
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.
A round, flower-like ornament in which petals radiate evenly from a center, like a blossom seen from above. From about the 16th century, as floral design entered Persian rugs, weavers began placing a rosette at the center of the field, which produced the central medallion of floral city rugs, as in the circular rosette medallion with scrolling lines on a round Shah Abbasi Tabriz. On Abadeh rugs a small rosette worked in navy, red or cream marks the center of the medallion, one way to tell the type apart. Rosettes also repeat along borders, as in Tabriz and Bakhtiari rugs, and among the vines and palmettes of Sultanabad rugs.
A classic Persian floral style named after the Safavid ruler Shah Abbas and associated with the carpets of his reign, about 400 years ago. Its main features are stylized, feather-like palmette leaves and lotus flowers, the lotus being an ancient symbol of long life, arranged in strict symmetry with scrolling ornament around a central medallion, often a rosette. Early examples favored deep reds and blues, while later rugs in this style often turn to muted neutral tones. The design appears in Kashan, Nain and Tabriz rugs.
A border pattern of repeating, highly stylized forms that read as turtles or crabs, giving the frame a steady rhythm. It is regarded as a signature of Heriz weaving and is also described as a classic Bakhtiari border, where it is paired with rosettes.