Which origin turns up most often?

Heriz. It is named in 121 titles, and 80 of those are explicitly a Heriz carpet rather than a rug, so the group leans large. Caucasian is next, then Persian, Baluch, Turkmen and Turkish. Mahal and Ushak follow, both again weighted towards carpet sizes.

How old are these rugs usually?

The dated field runs from 1750 to 1940, with 1,293 listings carrying a clean year. The concentration is 1880 to 1930. The 1900s decade is the fullest, the 1920s and 1890s close behind. The 1940s holds only ten. A further seventy are dated simply as 19th century, which is a bracket rather than a year.

Are there any named makers?

No. These are listed by weaving place or tribe, and the evidence carries no workshop master, designer or signing hand. One exception exists in the samples: a Caucasian Karabagh village rug described as signed by its weaver.

What counts as a flatweave here?

Anything without a knotted pile. Kilims account for 66 titles, and soumaks, chuvals, saddle-bag faces and needlepoint pieces make up the rest of the non-pile group. They come from the same regions and the same tradition as the pile rugs, just built differently. Bessarabian, Pirot and Sharkoy kilims, and Yomut palas soumak, all appear.

How big do these carpets get?

The largest recorded pass six metres in one dimension: a Mahal at 597 by 345cm, an Oushak at 369 by 595cm and a Heriz at 375 by 575cm. At the other end, small tribal pieces come in around 1.2 by 0.8 metres. Everything between the two turns up somewhere in the range.

Do any unusual origins appear?

Yes, though only once or twice each. Nepalese, Tibetan khaden, Chinese Ningxia and Pao Tao, Spanish Cuenca, Portuguese needlepoint, French Aubusson and Irish Donegal have all been listed. India contributes Amritsar and Agra carpets, along with a Mughal fragment from the north.

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Antique Area Rugs

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A hand-knotted wool rug or carpet, woven in Persia, the Caucasus, Anatolia, Central Asia or further east, made to cover a floor and named for the place or tribe that wove it.