1. INTRODUCTION:

While any  pile carpets will upgrade the appearance of any room, tribal carpets with their unique colors and designs, lend a  special warmth that cannot be achieved otherwise.   The tribal carpet is essentially a one-off work of art usually created by nomadic or semi-nomadic people living in small villages or on the open plains where the raw materials for the carpets come from their own animals from or bought from shops along their routes of travel.   It can take several months for one person to make even a small prayer carpet, and larger carpets may require the daily work of several persons for more than a year.  The value of the tribal carpet is therefore directly related to the time and effort made to create it.  The quality of the materials and complexity of design affect the time required to create these carpets and these factors also affect the value.   An important factor in determining a carpet’s value is the source of the carpet- i.e.: where was it made and by what tribal group?? Carpets of generally similar design, size, materials and workmanship can be made in  widely different geographical areas.   For example, a Tekke Turkoman carpet made by the Tekke tribes in northern Afghanistan and in the former USSR is usually  more valuable than a similar quality carpet made in the sweatshops of Pakistan.   Today, extremely high quality imitations of Persian silk carpets are now being made in China.   Caucasian designs are being copied in Iran and Pakistan, etc.

The serious carpet collector must therefore be armed with sufficient knowledge to study a carpet and with reasonable accuracy,  identify some key  features about the carpet’s design, construction and origin.    While an amateur collector may never be able to "smell the wool"  and tell  what village the sheep came from,   there is  considerable enjoyment and satisfaction  in successfully researching a carpet to confirm its origin.

This paper will outline many of the variable in carpet identification and will provide some general guidelines to follow in assessing your future purchases.  It is not to be confused as a definitive reference document, and  should be used only in context with other carpet books and your own experiences.
 


There are a multitude of elements which are regularly employed to identify and categorize carpets.   The most important element is EXPERIENCE - but this is gained through long term contact with the carpet trade such as a dealer would have.   These dealers often have a family history of carpet trading with skills passed  from generation to generation - experience the average collector can never hope to achieve.   Luckily there are a volumes of  research  available in the forms of books and films, but the collector still must learn certain basic skills of  how to study and feel out a carpet he is considering to purchase.    The basic elements of rug identification identified in this paper include:

a) Nature of the Rug:  What is it - a rug made of pile knotted into a textile backing ( knotted pile carpets) , or a pileless flat woven fabric which are embroidered or brocaded (kelims), or a simple flat weave.  All rugs discussed in this paper will be pile carpets.
<>b) Design: This is possibly the least dependable element in carpet identification, but a general knowledge of the characteristics of designs used in carpets can help somewhat to focus on the geographic  areas  where such carpets are normally made and provide a good starting point.

c) Color:   The final colours of a rug are determined by the dyestuffs used, the kinds of materials used, the method of initial washing done, and the age of the piece.   Dealers place much emphasis on "vegetable dyes" in tribal carpets, indicating that this is an indication of age (and greater value).   What is usually not realized by the new collector is the fact that chemical dyes have been around since the 19th century, and that many modern carpets (especially tribals) are still often made with vegetable dyestuffs (or a combination of both).    Unfortunately,  colour identification is a skill necessitating substantial professional experience, but some basic tricks can be learned by the amateur.

<>d) Materials Used: What material is the Warp and Weft threads made of. Is it wool, silk,  cotton, artificial silk???    What is the pile made of- goat wool, sheep wool, silk, camel hair, etc.   The kind of materials used often provide important clues as to a carpets origin.

e) Structure: The manner a weaver arranges the three elements of a carpet, the warp, the weft and the pile leaves a distinctive handwriting.  This is perhaps the most significant element  in carpet identification.    The type of knots, the layout of warp and weft and the "feel" of the resulting carpet are learnable skills.

f) The Selvage: This is the manner of finishing the edge of the knotted carpet.

g) The Fringe: Pile carpets are fined off at the end by a fringe usually made of the warp threads.  other decorations are often used- which account for another element in the weavers signature.

h) Size and Shape: Carpets from certain  tribal groups are made consistently one size or several  standard sizes.   This knowledge can help to differentiate an original from a reproduction of a similar design.


 
3. DESIGN:

In antique tribal carpets of the 18th and 19th centuries,  the traditional design motifs would most likely identify the geographical area and tribal origins of the carpet. Today, however, many factors have muddied the clear classification of a tribal carpet by design alone.   Recent wars and natural disasters have created great movement of refugees in the Caucasus areas and throughout Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Central Asia.   In Azerbaijan, for example, a combination of earthquakes and  war have virtually wiped out carpet production, making Caucasian carpets from this area rather rare- and therefore more costly.  Reproductions made in Meshad, Iran are cashing in on this factor.   Traditional Afghan designs are also now being made in refugee camps on the Pakistan borders.  While the carpets woven by these refugees may be of their original tribal design, the materials used (i.e..: wool, dyes)  may not be traditional.   There is also a mingling of design factors as these refugees mingle with refugees from other areas, and with the local people where the refugee has take up temporary residence. There are, however, certain characteristics of design which can be grouped as follows:

a) Herati Patterns:  In tribal carpets, versions of the Herati design can be found in the carpets of the present day Khorassan tribes (i.e. Turkomans, Beluchis and Kurds).  The Herati patterns vary from all-over flowing floral patterns to stiffer floral patters known as "Vase carpets".   Herat, one a major carpet centre, today is in Western Afghanistan, but once was part of the Persian empire and influenced design throughout the region.  The Turkoman Gul  and geometric motifs are often said to be derivatives of the original floral patterns of Persia.

b) Tree Designs:    Carpets with a trees are tree-like plants are often used as a main motif around which one can often  find flowers, animals and birds.  These designs are often found in prayer carpets.

c) Vase Designs:   These carpets usually have an all-over vine/floral design originating from  a vase like figure at one or both ends of the carpet. Afshari Sirjand, Kurdish and Qashqai tribals often have a vase design. In city carpets, the Tabriz and Kashan carpets often use a vase design.

d) Prayer-rug Designs: The prayer carpet is usually small- about 3’ by 4’, which is easy to fold up an carry and is used 5 times a day by devout Moslems at prayer time.    They  have a definite design which represents the "mihrab" or niche found in the wall of a mosque which defines the direction of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.   Pile or Kelim prayer carpets are woven in almost all Islamic countries. and these take on the characteristics of the particular tribe or geographic styles.  The finest of all of these is the Hereke woven in Turkey - all in silk.   The purely tribal pieces are usually wool, and sometimes have two to three mihrab-like features at one end.    One unique form of prayer carpet is the Turkoman "enssi" (Hatchli or Katchli  in Iran and Turkey, Purduh in Afghanistan / Pakistan). The enssi has a centre field divided into four panels filled with a repeating pattern of sort of "candelabra" design. On top, the enssi has a mihrab design- sometimes a horn shaped motif.  Larger ( 7’ x 5’) enssis are of similar design, but are used as a door
closure for tents or yurts.

e) Garden and Panel Designs: Many of the finest Persian silk city carpets such as Isfahan, Qum and Tabriz use a garden panel design of repeated small panels with differing  floral motifs in each.  Trees and stylized flowers are common.   A tribal equivalent are often made by the Bakhtiari tribes of Iran- making a form of panel or compartment "kishti" design.  Panel carpets with geometric designs in each panel are made by nomadic tribes like the Beluch and Quchan in eastern Iran and western Afghanistan.   Again, the Enssi (or Engsi)  falls into this classification in its larger sizes (7’x 5’) .  While these are traditionally made by nomads in the Turkoman  areas- fine examples are also made in Kabul in Afghanistan and in Ashkabad- the capital of the Turkoman SSR.  Almost all enssis are wool and have a red ground color,   but some fine examples in silk have been produced.

f) Picture Designs- Animals and Birds: There are many variations of pictorial carpets which are produced in the finest silk city carpets to the roughest tribal pieces.  Pictures of hunting scenes and various animals are a common form of this category of carpet.  Occasionally, depictions of famous persons can be found, but these are made mostly for the tourist trade.  Carpets made in Pakistan and Kashmir are often pictorial.  Afghan Balouch carpets regularly depict family scenes or scenes of their village seen from the door of their huts.    More recently Afghan "war" carpets depict tanks, helicopters, guns, etc., as these were part of the scene just outside the door.  Modern "Neubaft" carpets made in Meshad are often covered in small animals and birds.   One example in my collection has 400 animals and 200 birds (I counted them!).,

g) Geometric All- Over Designs: These form of carpet design is most commonly  found in tribal pieces.   It consists of the simple repetition or alteration of one or more geometric motifs.    One of the most common design is the Tekke Turkoman  improperly called the "Bokara" design (Bokara was traditionally a carpet trading town and not noted for carpet manufacture) .  The Tekke Turkoman design has a Tekke "Gul" repeated- and with  a small gul in the spaces in between - and almost always on a red ground.  As with most Turkoman carpets, there are usually many  borders of differing designs (sometimes up to 18 or more) separated by thin ‘guard’ borders.  There are more than 40 distinctive Turkoman gul designs, and these are reproduced in nearly every country in the carpet making regions. The finest Turkomans come from the Yamuts and Tekke in North east Persia, from Salor and Saryk along the Uzbekistan/Afghan borders, and the Mauri in the Herati area of Afghanistan.    One Afghan all-over geometric designs is the "filpa" or elephant foot design which involves several very large " Ersari" guls .   All-over geometrics are also commonly found in carpets from the Caucasian and Kurdish carpet weaving areas.

h) Geometric Repeating Medallion Designs: These carpets which have a  repeating or alternating  patterns are typical of many carpets from the Kurdish and Caucasian areas around the Caspian Sea.  This form of carpet design is also produced by tribal peoples of the Baluchis, Yalameh, Qashqai, Shiraz, Sennah, Ardebil and Shirvan regions.  Reproductions of the older tribal designs are now produced in factories in Armenia, Georgia and Pakistan.  Silk versions are made in Qum.

i) Geometric Medallion-Plain Designs:     This category is described as a carpet with a clearly defined principal motif surrounded by a greater or lesser area of plain ground, and framed by a border.  The corners of the plain ground is often filled in with triangular design elements.  Some Chinese carpets are often of this form of design.  Typical tribal examples are the Sirjand Afshari designs.  Turkish carpets are most often associated with this type of design. Examples are found from Anatolia as well as from Azirbaijan and Northern Shirvan regions.

j) Geometric Medallion / All-Over Designs: These carpets include most of the village production of Iran- having  one pronounced geometric medallion, but with the ground covered with a regular or irregular pattern of small motifs.  The fine details of the central motif and the surrounding designs make the carpet visually busy, but interesting.  Typical carpets in this grouping are made by the Kazak (Russia); Hamadan (Northern Iran); Zenjan (central Iran); Sennah; Shiraz and Qashqai.

k) Floral Medallion/ Allover Designs: This category would describe most of the finest Iranian city carpets  from Isfahan, Nain, Kerman; Saruq; Meshad; Moud; Kashan; Tabriz; and Qum.  The ability to achieve high density knotting in finer carpets (especially with silk) allows for smoother curvilinear designs typical of the floral patterns.  These carpets are not usually considered to be tribal, but are "city" carpets.  Examples of this form of carpet design from India,  Pakistan and China are common.

l) Floral Medallion- Plain Designs:          This category is essentially the same as the above, but changed by leaving out the design in the ground area.  It is especially typical of the Chinese Aubusson and/or Peking style carpets.  Carpets made for the European trade often used a motif of a spray of flowers (roses) called a "gul farang" (foreign Gul) or "gul Franki" (French Gul).  Again, tribal pieces using this design concept are uncommon.

m) Floral- All Over Designs:  This category is typified by an all over curvilinear floral  motif with stylized flowers.  is said to have originated in Herat in the eastern part of the Persian Empire in the 16th and 17 centuries.    While the original carpets may no longer exist, European paintings of these periods often faithfully depict a carpet of this category draped over a table or under the feet of some important personage.  Carpets of this category are usually city carpets and not considered as tribal.

4. MATERIALS USED

The materials used in the construction of a pile carpet are selected by the weaver in terms of their use in the carpet.   The material used for the warp (longitudinal threads), for example, is not necessarily the same material used for the weft (crosswise threads), nor for the pile (the knotted threads).   Further, the colours of the warp and weft threads may be different.

a) Pile:  Generally, tribal carpets have a woolen pile, but other materials such as camel hair, mohair, silk or artificial silk (rayon)  are also used. A silk pile  gives a carpet brilliance, but is not as long lasting as wool.    Often, in the cases of imitation silk, chemical washes can damage the pile. Further, chemical washes (usually seen in Pakistani and Kashmiri carpets) can impart a lustrous sheen to the woolen pile, but significantly affects the strength of the carpet and its longevity.   Older woolen carpets  have a natural sheen resulting from prolonged use and a number of conventional washings.

b) Warp:        The warp threads in tribal carpets are usually made of sheep wool, but cotton or goat hair is often used.   Silk is often used for warps in 20th century carpets as its strength and finess enables a higher knot density in a wool pile carpet.  Often, mercerized cotton is used which is passed off by unscrupulous dealers as being silk.   The colour of the wool  and method of twisting  (hand twist or machine twist) can also help identify the origin.

c) Weft:        The weft threads are more difficult to see, but can usually be seen from the back of the carpet.   These can be made of wool, but cotton  and a combination of cotton and synthetics are sometimes used.   Warp threads with a blue colour often identify carpets made in the Meshad areas.  The number of weft threads between rows of knots is often a tell-tale sign of the carpet’s origin.

d) How to tell the difference:  Usually one can verify the material used in a thread  removed from a carpet by burning the thread.   Wool burns with a bright flame - leaving a residue smelling like burnt hair. Cotton (and mercerized cotton) produces a flame and a residue like burnt paper.   Silk does not burn with a flame, but simply glows and reduces to an ash.   Artificial silk  reacts the same way but gives off an acrid smell.  Synthetics (or a combination including synthetic yarn will burn with a flame and melt to a black blob.
 

5. STRUCTURE OF THE CARPET

The  pile carpet is made of hundreds of thousands of individual loops of wool tied by hand around a pair of warp threads (Note: for the purpose of this paper, ‘thread’ means a number of fibres twisted into a piece of yarn).   These knots are not knots as we would think of the knot used to tie our shoes, but bits of wool thread looped around two warp threads.   They are locked in place by one or more  weft treads which are pounded across a row of pile knots.   Despite the many variations of knotting as described by dealers such as "single knot" or "double knot", there are only two kinds of knots used:

a) The Persian Knot: One end of the pile wool piece comes up between the two warp threads and the other end comes up on one side of the two warp threads.   This is also called the "asymmetrical knot".

b) The Turkish Knot: Also called the "Ghiordes or symmetrical Knot".   In this knot, the pile thread is looped under both warp threads and come up between the two threads.  The Turkish knot viewed from the pile side will appear as a short thread across both pile threads

The tightness of the carpet is determined mostly on the tightness of the wefts.   A "Single Weft" carpet means that after a row of knots is tied, the loom pedal  (shed) is operated - separating alternating rows of warp threads.  The weft thread is passed from one side to the other.   Another row of knots is then tied and the loom shed is reversed and the weft is passed back through.   This results in a single weft thread between each row of knots. In these carpets, the warp threads will be visible.

A "Double  Weft" carpet means that after a row of knots is tied, the weft thread is passed through, the loom reversed, and the weft is passed back through.   The wefts are then pounded down to lock the pile.   On a double weft carpet, one cannot see the warp threads.  In older pieces, three wefts between rows of knots was common, and in certain tribal pieces, 5 or 6 weft threads can be seen between the rows of knots.

Sometimes,  in double weft carpets, the alternating wefts are often made of different thickness,  with the heavy weft being drawn tight and the lighter weft inserted with less tension. This has an effect of setting alternating warps in different planes resulting in  longitudinal ridges on the back of the carpet. This effect produces a carpet that feels much stronger.

Weavers in certain locales often use weft threads died a different color in the body of the carpet (e.g. light blue / pink / red/ black).  This practice often helps identify the origin of the carpet regardless of the design.

Knot count is  not a major factor in  Tribal Carpets- either in desirability or financial value.   However, if one desires to count knots, remember that each visible turn of pile yarn as seen from the back of a carpet represents half of a knot.   By using thin wefts and thin pile yarn,  a carpet can be made to look exceptionally fine- as in many Pakistani carpets, but the carpet suffers in substance (and value).  Another common trick is to use a ‘Jufti’ knot which picks up  than four warp threads for each  knot. These are common in Indian carpets.

The pile yarn is fed to the weaver from a number of  balls of wool of differing colors hung above his head.  The design is created by knowing when to use another color for a specific knot or group of knots.  A "cartoon" or drawing is often used identifying the colors to be used knot by knot and line by line. The skill of the weaver in producing symmetrical and detailed design elements is a most important factor in the carpets beauty and value.

Pile carpets are started and finished with a Kilim, or flat woven fabric (similar to your bedsheet weave).   These kelims are often decorated with separate threads woven in to make a pattern, or use different coloured weft thread.  The Kelim protects the pile and can add a nice decorative touch to the carpet.
 

6.  THE SELVAGE

The selvage is the edges of the carpet formed by the turning of the weft threads. These edges are usually over bound as the work progresses with coloured wool or some other material such as goat hair to protect and decorate the carpet.  Different carpet weaving areas  have different ways of treating the selvage. This often provides a clue to the carpet’s origin.   For example, carpets from the Shiraz tribes almost always have a barber-pole selvage of alternating red and black wools.   In some areas, the selvage is not bound into the main area of the carpet, but attached  after the carpet is finished.    As the selvage often wears out first, this is usually repaired in a similar fashion to the original, or a new selvage is attached.

7. THE FRINGE

As noted  in paragraph 5 above,  a kelim or flat woven section is created at the beginning and at the end of the carpet by simple alternate weaving of the weft and warp threads.   When the carpet is finished, the warp strings are cut- leaving a fringe of loose warp threads which is often plaited, knotted or decorated.  Some looms are set up differently and no- as often seen in Hamadan carpets may have a small kelim- but no fringe at the bottom end.   The fringes- and the Kelims are considered to be sacrificial in terms of long term wear - protecting the pile area.  Fringes with large loose knots often break off early at the knot as they take an inordinate amount of stepping on.    Fringes with no knots or small knots (or plaited) seem to wear better.     Occasionally, new fringes are attached to older or antique carpets suffering from lack of fringes or where the  kelims have been fully worn away, and the pile is at risk.    This can be done professionally by skilled weavers, but care must be taken not to get a cheap job where the added fringe is really obvious.

8. CARPET SIZE AND SHAPE

In this paper,  the words "rug" and "carpets" have been used interchangeably.  In fact, there is a sort of accepted standard in which ‘rugs’ are normally considered those which are 6’6" by 4’3", and ‘carpets’ are considered to be those 12’6" x 8’3".   In England, a ‘rug’ is considered any piece up to 35 square feet.  In the USA, all pile pieces are called ‘rugs’ and machine made pieces ‘carpets’. These  are not  hard and fast rules,  but it is safe to identify a "Prayer Rug" or a "runner" by its function.   A "pushti" is a small  pile piece used for a pillow or cushion.  Carpets from specific areas usually are limited to several standard sizes for that area.  For example a Meshad carpet 13’ x 10’ cannot be an Abedeh, because that size is not made in Abedeh.   Some areas  specialize in large carpets- and some (e.g. Sirjand) specialize in rugs.     Circular carpets are made mostly in Turkey, China and India- and very occasionally in Iran (Tabriz / Nain).
 

9. COLOURS (Colors)

The colours of a carpet are perhaps the most definitive, yet the most complex factor in carpet identification.   Individuals with life-long experience in the carpet business often have the skills to look at a carpet’s colours and be able to tell exactly where the carpet was made without referring to any other factors.  In antique tribal pieces, the weavers normally had to be self sufficient- using only the dyestuffs available to him in his own locale.  Today, with vehicles regularly reaching the remotest villages, the availability of new materials and chemical dyestuffs tend to blur the colour distinction between  carpet weaving areas.

Colours remain the most crucial factor in the identification and selection of a tribal carpet. The following  basic factors influence the color of a carpet:

a) the selection of dyestuffs used
b) the wool or other materials to be dyed
c) the water and materials used to wash the finished     carpet
d)  the age and condition of the piece

There are five rough categories into which the dyestuffs can be divided:

a) natural - vegetable, animal and mineral dyes
b) natural dyes badly used
c) fast synthetic dyes
d) semi-fast synthetic dyes
e) fugitive dyes

Originally, all dyes were made exclusively from animal and vegetable substances. The freely growing wild madder root is used to make various warm reds. The older the plant, the deeper the shade of red. The roots of plants which are over eight years old produce a purplish wine red. Different types of crushed cochineal insects make a bright magenta color or a brilliant crimson when they are boiled in the dye vat. To make the vivid "Turkey red " the madder is mixed with milk which has been fermented for exactly thirty days.All the vegetable dye blues are made from the indigo plant.The yellow dyes are made from the saffron crocus, vine leaves or milkwort (Isperek), as well as other plants such as reseda and buckthorn (although overbright if used in large areas, buckthorn is a very fast dye). Pomegranate skin makes a rather muddy yellow, but when it is blended with metal salts it can become olive or lime green. Other greens are made from turmeric berries and vine leaves. A mix of blues and yellow can also produce various greens. Orange colors are made from henna or vine leaves. Persian berries, madder and pomegranate skins can produce a golden brown. Other browns are made from catechu (or cutch), walnut shells and oak bark.
<>Natural dyes are without question the best. and are usually subdued and never garish.   They are not, however fully fast and are affected by washing and light.  The exposure to daylight produces a warm glowing colour as can be seen in many antique carpets.     All carpets made before 1850 are made with vegetable, animal or mineral dyes.  Many of the better carpets made today still use natural dyestuffs.  Natural red dyes  for example in Eastern Persia are cochineal based and tend toward bluish, mauve or pinkish shades.   Natural reds in Western Persia are usually made from the madder root with shades tending toward the brown, rust orange and rose-brown colors. Natural undyed wool is often used for certain colours- with the sheep selected for their black, brown, gray or white coats. Yarn made from camel hair produces a particularly warm beige colour.

It is almost impossible to tell whether a carpet has natural or synthetic dyes without a chemical analysis.    The tendency for certain carpet making areas to use specific colours- and not other colours (regardless of whether they are natural or synthetic) , however, can be a strong clue as to the carpet’s origin.

Fast synthetic dyes will not mellow with age or exposure to sunlight. Luckily most of the synthetic dyes now used are semi-fast and do mellow out to some degree.    Early synthetic dyes made in the late 1800s were considered ‘fugitive’ as they faded so well as to leave no colour at all- or just shades of beige and gray.   Some of the strident greens and oranges still used today are fugitives.

Washing methods also affect colours.  Some unscrupulous dealers use chemical washes which age the carpet appearance and give the wool a luster, but this practice decreases the carpet’s value and durability.

10. AGE AND CONDITION

The determination of the age of a carpet is another difficult analysis.   Many experts  roughly define ‘new’ carpets as those younger than 25-30 years, and "old" carpets from 30-50 years.  "Semi- antique" carpets are from 50-100 years and  antique carpets older than 100 years.   These cut-off dates vary from dealer to dealer, and usually reflect on what he feels he can get away with.    In my inventory, I tend to pick an arbitrary date in the middle of one of these periods and assign it to a particular carpet. In this way I don’t have to update my categorization as I (and the carpet) get older.

It should be noted that some carpets made over 100 years ago and kept stored in a dark place may look as fresh as a carpet made yesterday, while a 10 year old carpet used  daily on the sidewalk  in a souk in Jeddah could look 100 years old.

Age seems to be a important factor to many collectors, and the more threadbare and faded they are, the better. However, it seems to a be more logical approach to determine the quality and value of  a carpet by appreciating the beauty of the design and workmanship,  coupled with an assessment of its condition.   Carpets are made to be used and admired in one’s home, and not to be set aside like some relic in a museum.
 

NOTE:  This paper is to be considered a "Work In Progress" , and will be updated / corrected  periodically as the author (Phil Holcomb) becomes more enlightened!