How Rugs get their names

(Posted on 10/07/13)

Place of origin or tribes  Most oriental rugs derive their names either from their place of origin or, in the case of nomadic items, the weaving tribe. A rug made in the Persian town of Kashan is therefore known as a Kashan, and an item woven by the Belouch nomads is called a Belouch, with nomadic items, it is not uncommon for a rug to be known by both the name of specific weaving tribe (or sub-tribe) and the overall tribal grouping. Consequently, the vast majority of rugs made in central Asia are collectively referred to as Turkomans, regardless of the fact that they are made by a number of specific tribes (Beshir, Tekke, Ersari, etc.), while individual items may be marketed under either the collective Turkoman heading or the name of the actual weaving tribe. Usually, the collective heading is only employed when the exact attribution of a particular item is uncertain. The sane is true of town and village rugs, and individual items that clearly originate from a broadly defined area or region, but can not be tied down to a specific village or town will be marketed under the name of the general location. Consequently, an item originating from somewhere within the Persian province of Khorassan will simply be called a Khorassan.

Its is also quite normal for the rugs of small villages to be marketed under the same name of the nearest large rug-producing town, providing of course that there are strong similarities between their rugs; items produced in villages around the Persian city of Hamadan, for example, may be collectively referred to as Hamadan.