Turkish rugs

A long history

The oldest known Anatolian carpets date from the Seljuk period in the 13th century. Fragments were found in mosques in Konya and Beyşehir.

In the 16th century, workshops around Uşak, often written Oushak, wove large carpets with star and medallion designs. Some of their patterns appear in European paintings of the time, which is why a few rug types carry painters’ names, such as Holbein and Lotto.

Village and nomad rugs

Most Turkish rugs were woven in homes and villages. They are usually wool on wool, with bold geometric designs. Nomad rugs, often called Yörük rugs, often show a central medallion of stepped diamonds with hooked edges.

Turkey is also known for kilims. A kilim is a flatweave with no pile. Its patterns are woven into the cloth itself, so it is thin, light and reversible.

Hereke and fine silk rugs

Sultan Abdülmecid I founded a workshop at Hereke in 1843 to weave silk textiles for the Ottoman palaces. Carpet weaving began there in 1891.

Hereke became known for very fine silk and wool carpets. The name is widely copied, so a rug sold as Hereke is not always from that workshop.

Natural dyes and new Turkish rugs

Synthetic dyes spread through Anatolian weaving in the late 19th and 20th centuries. In 1981, the DOBAG project began helping village weavers near Ayvacık return to handspun wool and natural dyes.

Today many rugs sold as Turkish or Oushak are woven in other countries in Turkish designs. That is not a flaw, but it should be stated. Ask where the rug was woven, and look at the back to confirm it was knotted by hand.

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