The foundation material of a rug (the warp and weft) is usually wool, cotton, or (rarely) silk. The best quality wool is fine, soft and shiny. Inferior quality wool is coarse and lacks lustre.

COLOURS

Colour is one of the most important factors in assessing old rugs. The best colours are those made from natural vegetable and insect dyes.

Antique Collection

Natural dyes

Blues and reds predominate in most old rugs. Warm red colours are usually derived from the plant, madder. Blue comes from indigo.

Sometimes crimson comes from insect dyes such as cochineal. This indicates a date after c.1850 when cochineal was first imported to the East.

Chemical (aniline) dyes

These were introduced c.1890; they tend to be harsher in tone, and are not colourfast.

Chromatic dyes

These were first used in the early20th century. They can be difficult to distinguish from natural dyes as they are colour-fast, but they lack the subtlety of natural dyes, and come in a wider colour range.

KNOTS

The type of knot used to attach the pile to the warp and weft can help to identify where the rug was made. The quality of a rug is reflected by the fineness of the knots which are measured according to their number per square decimetre (15 sq. in). A coarse rug may have 400 knots per square decimetre whereas a fine one may have many thousands. There are two main types of knot used:

* Turkish, symmetric or Ghiordes; this was used in Turkey and many tribal groups in Persia and Central Asia.

* Persian, asymmetric or Senneh; used in Iran and by some Central Asian groups. The threads can be open to the left or right.

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Rug Basics